Lancaster deputies arrest man accused of killing girlfriend, staging her suicide

Lancaster County authorities on Tuesday arrested the man accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend last December and staging her death to look like a suicide.

Keishawn Omar McManus, 23, was arrested Tuesday afternoon at a home on Blossom Street, according to Doug Barfield, a spokesman for the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities have been pursuing McManus for nearly a year, after determining that the death of 19-year-old Quatavia Robinson was a homicide, Barfield said.

Deputies responded to the Clyburn Drive home Dec. 23, 2014, for a reported suicide. McManus told investigators he came home and found Robinson in the bedroom, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Investigators combed the scene and an autopsy was performed on Robinson to determine the cause of death. Deputies determined McManus shot and killed Robinson during a domestic dispute and reported her death as a suicide, according to previous reports.

Barfield said Tuesday evening that investigators issued the murder warrant for McManus after the suicide story didn’t “pan out.”

“We’ve been looking for him ever since,” he said.

After receiving a tip that McManus was at the Blossom Street home, Barfield said, investigators went to the home Tuesday afternoon to conduct surveillance. By 5:30 p.m., they had talked him out of the house.

Porscha Simon got the call Tuesday afternoon that her daughter’s accused killer had been arrested.

“I just dropped the phone and started praising the Lord,” she said. “This is something we’ve longed for.”

McManus is expected to go before a magistrate sometime Wednesday.

This isn’t the first time McManus has faced charges related to a homicide. In July 2012, McManus was charged with murder, along with Stanley Melvin Reed, in the shooting death of Timothy Wissinger. Investigators alleged Wissinger was shot in an apparent dispute over drugs while he was driving a truck on Lamplight Road, which caused the vehicle to crash into a tree. The suspected murder weapon was later found in McManus’ home.

McManus and Reed also faced cocaine possession charges after their arrest in that incident. McManus was later released on a $50,000 bond.

In September 2013, after McManus’ arrest in the Wissinger death, he was arrested again in Lancaster County on a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery, according to State Law Enforcement Division records.

Family members have said Robinson and McManus were a couple after meeting at work, a poultry processing plant outside Monroe, N.C., where Robinson is from, and that they started dating in the summer.

Simon said their family wasn’t aware of McManus’ criminal record when he and Robinson started dating in July 2014, and described McManus as “quiet.”

“He seemed sneaky,” he said. “I didn’t care too much for him, but at the same time I gave her respect for him. He appeared to be OK.”

Simon said Tuesday’s arrest brought not only much-needed closure, but also happiness that hasn’t been present for their family the last two Christmases.

“Today is the day I laid her to rest,” she said of Robinson. “A heavy weight lifted off my heart, just knowing that he’s not out there on the street. It’s been a long time coming. I’ve waited for this day a whole year.”

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 7:39 AM with the headline "Lancaster deputies arrest man accused of killing girlfriend, staging her suicide."