Man accused of killing mother, aunt found dead in jail

BEAVER COUNTY, Pa. — A man who was accused of killing his mother and aunt in a double homicide in New Sewickley Township, Pennsylvania, at the end of June was found dead in his jail cell Friday morning.

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Benjamin D. Selby, 43, was in Beaver County Jail on charges related to the double murder of two women on June 24, WPXI reported. The two women were identified as Mary Lihosit, 65, and Delores Selby, 71.

Officers with New Sewickley Township Police Department were called out to the house in the 400 block of Klein Road in New Sewickley Township around 2 p.m. The caller reportedly told investigators that his relatives were shot and believed it was a cousin named Ben, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the news outlet.

Officers went to the house and set up a perimeter after they had determined that a hostage was inside the residence. First responders with the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit also responded to the house and forced their way into the house, according to court records obtained by WPXI. Eventually, Benjamin Selby was taken into custody.

A third woman, 92, was also found in the house uninjured, officials said.

Lihosit and Selby were killed as a “result of multiple rifle wounds to the trunk,” Beaver County Coroner David Gabauer said, according to WPXI. Both of their deaths were ruled as homicides.

Selby was charged with two counts of criminal homicide and a count of kidnapping for ransom, according to the news outlet.

Selby’s cause of death has not yet been released.