Man charged nearly 17 years after Derry Township homicide appears in court

DERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — For the first time in nearly 17 years, the man who police say killed Samantha Lang faced a judge.

Charles Ream is accused of killing Lang in her family’s home in 2007.

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Ream didn’t respond to questions from Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek after the hearing.

During the hearing, prosecutors called three witnesses to present evidence against him. Two of the witnesses were lead investigators on the case — including retired Trooper Eric Mumau. He started investigating the case after Lang’s death.

He told the court Ream said during their initial interview in 2007 that he had gone to the house to buy drugs. He said Ream told him he arrived at the house, parked his work truck in front of the home, bought three bags of heroin from Lang for $50, and then left.

Mumau said the door appeared to be broken into, the home was ransacked, and Lang had been beaten, had her neck cut, and was laying in a pool of blood the day after Ream claimed to have purchased that heroin.

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Prosecutors also called on Timothy Smartnick. He said he was with Ream in 2009 or 2010 when Smartnick was a drug dealer.

He recalled a night at a motel in Monroeville when the two were doing drugs, which he said was cocaine and heroin.

He said Ream told him he had tortured and killed Lang, and then told Smartnick he couldn’t tell anybody.

Smartnick said he couldn’t remember specifics but said he remembered Ream saying something about breaking her finger or ripping off fingernails.

The news of the charges came as a surprise to Mark Cerra.

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Ream used to work for him as a tow truck driver for about a year in 2007.

“Seventeen years. Was I surprised? Hell yeah, I was surprised,” Cerra said.

Cerra said he knew Ream was involved with drugs, but he was a good employee. He said he does remember when he talked with Ream about Lang’s death.

“This is what he said, ‘I didn’t murder her. Hearsay. Hearsay. Hearsay,’” Cerra recalled.

Before the hearing was over, Ream’s attorney asked the judge to dismiss the case. That request was denied.

“I don’t know that they necessarily connected my client to anything that went on,” said Marc Daffner. “Clearly there was a homicide, it was a terrible case, but there was really no evidence put on as to Mr. Ream’s involvement, if any.”

Ream is scheduled to be back in court in October.

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