Armored Car Murder Manhunt: Police Timeline Details Crime - East Idaho News
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Armored Car Murder Manhunt: Police Timeline Details Crime

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GETTY N 030212 ArmorTruck?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1330693087111iStockphoto/Thinkstock (file photo)(PITTSBURGH) — After a Pittsburgh armored car driver allegedly killed his colleague and made off with $2.3 million, investigators are putting together a timeline of events to find the culprit, who is carrying three automatic weapons.

Police are asking people across the country to be on the lookout for 22-year-old Kenneth Konias Jr., who they are describing as a cold-blooded killer that shot his co-worker Michael Haines in the back of the head and left him in the back of the Garda armored vehicle the two operated.

“Our belief is that he planned to rob the company, and if he had to kill the guard he planned to do that,” an officer said.

The two men worked for Garda Cash Logistics and were collecting cash from the Rivers Casino and a Home Depot in Pittsburgh.  Just before 4 p.m. Tuesday, Haines’ body was found inside the cargo area of the Garda armored vehicle, with a gunshot wound to the back of the head, and more than $2 million missing.

Pouring over surveillance video, investigators have created a timeline showing at least five collection stops made by Haines and Konias before the shooting.

Surveillance video shows the truck speeding away from a service road behind a Home Depot at 12:55 p.m. Tuesday.  At 1:23 p.m., the armored vehicle was seen in a parking lot underneath a bridge.  Three minutes later, police say Konias ran to his 2002 Ford Explorer, and at sometime between 1:30 p.m. and 3:40 p.m. he returned to his home.

Police stumbled upon the abandoned armored car just before 4 p.m. and found blood dripping from its locked doors.

“He had at least a two-hour head start from the time he left work until the time Mr. Haines was discovered,” Cmd. Tom Stangrecki of the Pittsburgh Police Department said.  “We’re not sure if he’s in the state.”

Konias’s father said that when he was home he discarded a bloodied uniform jacket, while police say that he took off with as many as three semi-automatic pistols, including one he allegedly took from Haines in the truck.

At some point, Konias made a phone call to a friend, which was outlined in the criminal complaint charging him with homicide and robbery.

“At the time of this conversation with Kenneth Konias, Konias made statements such as, ‘I [expletive] up. My life is over,'” the criminal complaint stated.

After the friend asked Konias a series of questions probing what was wrong — whether he was having a bad day at work or had gotten a girl pregnant — the friend, who is identified as Witness #1 in the criminal complaint, said, “What, did you kill someone?”

After a few seconds of silence, Konias allegedly said “yes” and implored his friend to run away with him and live off the money from his heist.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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