The Broome County Sheriffโs Office released more details on the death investigation in the Town of Conklin that has been ruled a murder-suicide stemming from an ongoing family dispute.
๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ต ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ป๐ป๐๐๐น๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ฒ๐น๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ธ๐น๐ถ๐ป
On the morning of Friday, August 22, Michael Shuta, age 65 of the Town of Conklin was found deceased at a family owned property in Montrose, PA. Shutaโs death was ruled a suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot woundfrom a .357 Magnum revolver.
Upon learning of his death, Shutaโs family members contacted the Broome County Sheriffโs Office with concerns about Shutaโs nephew, Matthew Slavetskas, age 41, of the Town of Conklin.
The family noted that they were unable to reach Slavetskas, and that he had been involved in an ongoing dispute with this uncle, Michael Shuta, who lived in a trailer at the back of Slavetskasโ property at 4467 Brady Hill Rd in the Town of Conklin.
๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ฒ๐น๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
On Friday, August 22, at approximately 3:30 p.m., Broome County Sheriffโs Office deputies performed a welfare check at Slavetskasโ residence at 4467 Brady Hill Rd. in the Town of Conklin.
Upon arrival, deputies found Slavetskas deceased inside his residence, due to multiple gunshot wounds to the head and torso from a .17 HMR small-caliber revolver, which was found at the scene.
๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐
Following a full investigation of the scene, review of home security camera footage, witness reports and forensic evidence, the Broome County Sheriffโs Office Detectives Division, with assistance by the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Unit, established that Michael Shuta had conspired to murder his nephew, Matthew Slavetskas, due to an ongoing property dispute, and after committing the act, took his own life in the following timeline of events:
On Thursday, August 21, at around 10 p.m., Shuta was viewed on one of the residenceโs home security cameras dressed in all black, knocking down a separate security camera in the rear of the house. At the time, Slavetskas was at another residence nearby and manually deactivated the remaining home security cameras from his phone.
Between 10:30 PM โ 11:00 PM, Slavetskas arrived at home and got into a physical dispute with his uncle in the backyard, where he sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the head and torso from a 17 HMR revolver.
After being shot, Slavetskas locked himself in his home at the front of the property, where he died from his wounds. Slavetskasโ cell phone was found still in his truck at the rear of the residence.
Shuta then left his black clothing and murder weapon at the scene before leaving for Montrose, PA, where he ended his life with a .357 Magnum revolver.
Shuta was discovered by passers-by on the front porch of his familyโs property the next morning on Friday, August 22nd.
Both pistols used in the murder and the suicide were registered to Shuta.
โWith no eyewitnesses to this murder, our Detectives Division performed extensive work to rule out any involvement from an outside party,โ said Sheriff Fred Akshar. โI commend their diligence and dedication to examining all the evidence to establish a clear narrative. Iโd also like to thank the New York State Police who were outstanding partners in this investigation. Finally, Iโd like to thank the public for their patience as our teamed concluded our work and did things the right way. It would have been irresponsible to prematurely release a narrative before the necessary facts were gathered and the work was done.โ
