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Police: Pa. man suffocated girlfriend after intentional high-speed crash

Police allege the suspect purposely crashed, then killed the girl by sitting on top of her head until she asphyxiated

Associated Press

MANHEIM, Pa. — A central Pennsylvania man is charged with suffocating his 17-year-old girlfriend after injuring her by intentionally driving into a guardrail at about 100 miles per hour in the middle of the night.

Police filed homicide and other charges Friday against Benjamin Daniel Klinger for the Dec. 4 death of Sammi Heller on an interstate near Manheim.

Police allege Klinger purposely crashed, then killed Heller by sitting on top of her head until she asphyxiated.

The person answering the telephone at Klinger’s Elizabethtown home on Thursday said Klinger didn’t have a lawyer and declined to comment.

Heller allegedly told a friend that Klinger regularly tried to scare her while driving and that he’d threatened to kill them both in a crash.

Klinger is also charged with aggravated assault, drug offenses and driving violations.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press