Man Accused of Killing Jean Tuggy Brought Back to Centre County to Face Homicide Charge

The man charged earlier this month in the 2016 killing a Pine Grove Mills woman was brought back to Pennsylvania this weekend and is being held at the Centre County Correctional Facility.

Christopher Kowalski, 34, was charged with one count of criminal homicide by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and arrested on Feb. 8 in South Carolina, where he has been living since a few months after he allegedly shot and killed Jean Tuggy on Jan. 20, 2016 inside the 61-year-old woman’s Irion Street home.

Kowalski was arraigned on Saturday morning before District Judge Casey McClain, who denied bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 8.

Tuggy was found dead by friends who came to check on her after she failed to meet them. Her murder baffled family and friends, who could not imagine who would want to harm her.

A years-long investigation by Ferguson Township police was joined in 2019 by the attorney general’s office. It eventually led to Kowalski, who was described in a criminal complaint as a former co-worker of Tuggy’s who had developed a friendship with her.

Questioned by investigators earlier this month, Kowalski allegedly admitted to shooting Tuggy twice with a 9 mm handgun.

“The truth is, I killed her,” he allegedly told investigators. “I killed her because I was depressed, down and hopeless. I was having a mid-life crisis.”

Investigators tracked down the gun they say he used and then sold several months after the killing.

Ferguson Township Detective Caleb Clouse and OAG Special Investigator Chris Weaver led the investigation of the case, which will be prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Kelly Sekula.