UNION COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — The suspect charged with the killing and disposing of a woman in February of 2021 has taken a plea deal.
Now, the victim’s family is speaking out.
“She was my little sister. She was a pain sometimes, but she was my best friend,” said Mary Zinzi, sister.
The victim’s name was Rebecca Landrith.
“Accomplished independent, smart, everybody who met her loved her, she had an infectious giggle, she loved to laugh she loved to be happy,” described Zinzi.
Her siblings describe her as kind, generous, an animal lover, and just a good person.
“When I went away to college, she was just 6 years old. So my most vivid recollections of her is this little bouncy, excitable little girl who had ponytails and had a great laugh and giggle and was just cute as a button,” recalled George Landrith, Rebecca’s brother.
A woman they thought they’d have a lifetime to make more memories with, up until February of 2021.
A PennDOT worker found Rebecca’s body with 20 gunshot wounds in the snow along a remote stretch of I-80 East in Union County. She had a note in her pocket leading police directly to her admitted killer, Tracy Rollins.
Surveillance footage from the travel plazas on receipts, also in her pocket, paired with data from Rollins’ cellphone corroborate this timeline:
- Rollins picked up Rebecca at a truck stop in Connecticut.
- Then, they stopped for food in Indiana.
- Two hours later, Rollins and Rebecca made their way to a pilot travel center in Wisconsin.
- Two days later, they stopped at a truck stop in Ohio.
- Later that evening, Rollins’ phone pinged at an exit off I-80 in Green Township,
- Pennsylvania, then in West Buffalo Township at the mile run exit where Rebecca’s body was found.
- State police arrested Rollins in Connecticut where they found blood and shell casings in his truck.
Now, Rollins has pleaded guilty to the crime and faces up to 80 years incarcerated, tantamount to a life sentence.
“Nothing brings back Becky. Whatever punishment he’s given, it doesn’t change that this upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas, she’s not there. That doesn’t change,” said George.
“We’re never going to have Rebecca back. We’re going to start healing at this point and we’ve done a really good job at it. Our family is extremely close. This has brought us extremely close if you could possible get closer,” explained Zinzi.
They carry Rebecca in their hearts every day, and lean on one another to heal and honor the life of the sweet soul they once knew.
As part of a deal, Rollins pleaded guilty to third-degree homicide and 20 counts of abuse of a corpse. He had no prior criminal history.