2 PA Fugitives Wanted For Murder, Assault Captured In Westchester

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — For two fugitives wanted in Pennsylvania, their flight from the long arm of the law ended in Westchester.

The Westchester County Police Department (WCPD) says that they collaborated with the NYPD to arrest two suspects wanted for homicide and felony assault charges in Pennsylvania.

The incident started on Friday with a Real Time Crime Center alert that a stolen vehicle was being driven in Mount Vernon near the Bronx border. While Mount Vernon Police Department and NYPD officers canvassed the area, officers from the NYPD's 47th Precinct found the vehicle on the Bronx side of the border. The driver was taken into custody and found to be in possession of methamphetamine, police said.

WCPD Narcotics Unit detectives were notified and determined the narcotics may have been purchased at a building on Mundy Lane in Mount Vernon. It was also believed that two Pennsylvania fugitives, a man and a woman, might be in that building. Police in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, were contacted and confirmed that the pair was wanted in connection to a stabbing the previous week.

The Mundy Lane building was then placed under surveillance. A little before 6 p.m., a man fitting the description of the wanted suspect was detained as he exited the building. He was arrested once his identity was confirmed. Shortly afterwards, the woman was spotted attempting to flee by climbing out an apartment window, but she was quickly captured, police said.

Two non-functioning ghost guns were found during a search of the apartment where they had been hiding, according to officials.

38-year-old Dion Johnson and 46-year-old Yolanda Lower were booked at WCPD headquarters, arraigned as fugitives from justice and remanded to the Westchester County Jail pending extradition to Pennsylvania.

"This case is another successful outcome of the great communication and partnership between the 47th Precinct and the Westchester law enforcement community," the WCPD wrote on social media. "We are grateful to Deputy Inspector Korabel and his team at the Four-Seven for their ongoing collaboration and support."