Witness testifies suspect asked how to start fire after alleged murder, arson in Harrison County

Yahoo

26-02-2025

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Eight witnesses testified on Tuesday in the trial for Allen Schaffer, a Michigan man who is accused of shooting two people at a home on Good Hope Pike in Harrison County, West Virginia and then setting the house on fire in 2022.
Schaffer was charged with murdering Harrison County residents Chasity Romeo, 33, and Corey Snider, 43 as well as arson in the case in 2023 and was extradited from Michigan, where he was being held on a parole violation from a previous crime.
After jury selection on Monday, Schaffer's trial continued with the state calling witnesses on Tuesday. Among those witnesses were people who knew the victims and Schaffer, people who had purchased drugs from Schaffer, law enforcement officers, neighbors and the man who reportedly drove Schaffer back to Detroit, Michigan after the alleged crime, Robert Rehnert.
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Rehnert testified that he had sold Schaffer the gun used to murder Romeo and Snider and had picked Schaffer up the night of the murder near the scene of the crime. Rehnert said that on that day, Schaffer had asked if he knew how to start a fire and Rehnert prepared a fire kit for him, but when they returned to the house later, it was already fully engulfed in flames.
'What I was there to do had already been done,' the witness said during the trial.
Rehnert's girlfriend also testified that Schaffer smelled like paint thinner on the night of the fire.
Another witness, a neighbor, identified items that were discarded along the road after the alleged murder, including the murder weapon and insulin needles; Schaffer is diabetic.
The trial is scheduled to continue in Clarksburg on Wednesday.
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