A Lancaster man will face criminal homicide, abuse of corpse and tampering with evidence charges in Lancaster County Court.

Charges were held over against 33-year-old Donald L. Meshey Jr. following a preliminary hearing Wednesday morning at Magisterial District Judge Adam Witkonis’ office in Lancaster.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Fetterman presented testimony from a Lancaster Bureau of Police Detective in the Violent Crimes Unit who filed the charges.

Police were originally called to Meshey Jr.’s home in the 200 block of W. Strawberry St. on August 11^th for a wellness check and upon entering the home discovered a frozen, severed human head on a plate in the kitchen.

Police found additional evidence of criminal activity including a knife and blood in a bedroom.

EMS and the Lancaster County Coroner’s Office responded to the scene and confirmed the head to be human and police were able to identify the remains as Donald Meshey Sr., who also lived in the Strawberry St. apartment.

Detective Ryan Burgett testified that the defendant told police he found a cadaver doll in his father’s bed that looked and sounded like his father before stabbing the cadaver doll multiple times.

Police obtained search warrants for the residence and a vehicle and found human remains in various locations.

MDJ Witkonis found the evidence presented was sufficient and the case will be bound over to the Court of Common Pleas. Meshey Jr. is presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law. His formal arraignment is scheduled for January 14^th.

Meshey Jr. remains in Lancaster County Prison without bail.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sean McBryan, semcbryan@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @SeanMcBryanLanc.