Police investigating murder of slain teacher request judge seal warrants: Nearing an arrest?

Investigators in Pennsylvania have requested that search warrants connection to the murder of a young teacher be sealed, indicating they are a working on leads they do not want to be made public.

Authorities have not named any suspects in the murder of Rachel DelTondo, 33, who was gunned down in her mother’s driveway on the night of May 13, just after her friends dropped her off frwwom an outing to get ice cream. KDKA reports that authorities have requested a court seal warrants connected to the investigation as they continue to pursue a suspect or suspects.

Police in Aliquippa have said very little about the investigation, but local media outlet have obtained search warrants showing that investigators are interested in the cell phones and social media accounts belonging to at least two of DelTondo’s friends, and one of her friend’s mothers — the wife of an Alquippa police officer, whose teenager daughter Lauren Watkins was behind the wheel of the car that dropped DelTondo off just minutes before police got the first reports of gunshots.

DelTondo had been suspended from her teaching position at Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School late last year, after someone inside the police department leaked an incident report from February 2016, showing that DelTondo was found in a car with a then-17-year-old high school student. DelTondo was not charged with any wrongdoing.

But since her murder, that former student, Sheldon Jeter, Jr., and his 26-year-old brother Tyrie Jeter have both reportedly claimed to have been romantically involved with DelTondo, although it is not clear if they were involved with her at the same time. Tyrie Jeter was with Lauren Watkins and Rachael DelTondo on the night of May 13, and Sheldon was reportedly in communication via text with the group before DelTondo was killed.

Authorities have not revealed a specific motive, but characterized the murder as a “crime of passion.”

It is not known when a decision will be made about the request to seal the warrants.