PA Governor Corbett Signs Execution Warrant for Killer of York County Teen

HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Tom Corbett has signed an execution warrant for Hubert L. Michael Jr., who pled guilty in October 1994 to kidnapping and first-degree murder for the death of 16-year-old Trista Eng.

On July 12, 1993, Eng was walking along Route 15 from her home to her summer job at a restaurant in Dillsburg, York County. Michael stopped and offered the girl a ride to work, which she accepted.

Michael drove to state game lands in Warrington Township, York County, where he shot Eng three times with a handgun and then hid her body in the woods.

Ten days later, Michael fled the state in a rented car. At the time, Michael was out on bail for an unrelated rape charge in Lancaster County. The car was listed as stolen and entered into the National Crime Information Center system.

On July 27, 1993, Michael was arrested in Utah as a fugitive from justice. The murder weapon was found in the car at the time of his arrest. Michael was returned to Pennsylvania and incarcerated in Lancaster County Prison to await trial on the rape charge.

In August, Michael's brother visited him in prison. Michael confessed to his brother that he had used the gun to kill Eng and that he had hidden the girl's body in the state game lands. Based on that information, Michael's brother and other relatives searched the game lands until they found the teenager's badly decomposed body, still dressed in her restaurant uniform. Michael's explanation for the murder was that he was under so much pressure from the rape charge, he "just lost it.''

Police charged Michael with Eng's murder on Aug. 27, 1993.

In November 1993, Michael assumed the identity of another prisoner and escaped from Lancaster County Prison. He was later captured in New Orleans and returned to Pennsylvania in March 1994.

In September 1994, Michael was convicted of rape and other charges and sentenced to 10- to 20-years in prison. The following month, on Oct. 11, 1994, Michael pled guilty to first-degree murder and kidnapping. He waived a sentencing hearing and on March 20, 1995, the trial court imposed the death sentence along with a concurrent prison term for kidnapping.

Michael, now 56, is a prisoner at the State Correctional Institution at Greene. His execution has been scheduled for Nov. 8, 2012.

This warrant, signed Tuesday, is Corbett's 20^th execution warrant.

Executions in Pennsylvania are carried out by lethal injection. For more information, visit the Department of Corrections online at www.cor.state.pa.us and select "Death Penalty'' from the left-side navigation bar.

Media contact: Janet Kelley, 717-783-1116

SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of the Governor