Harrisburg police charged a man with homicide Friday after a maintenance worker found a homeless man’s body dumped in his apartment stairwell.
The suspect, Calvin Lee Waller Jr., 48, lived on the first floor of the apartment building at 117 Locust Street in downtown Harrisburg where Jeffrey Keckler’s body was found Saturday afternoon Nov. 28 under a locked hatch that leads to the building’s basement. The building is less than one block away from police headquarters.
Keckler, 61, was last seen alive the morning of Nov. 9 and could have been dead since that day, the coroner officials told police. The coroner ruled the death a homicide on Thursday Dec. 1.
Police are looking for Calvin L. Waller, 48, who is believed to have fled Harrisburg in November.
Waller had the code to the padlock on the hatch, the landlord told police according to court records, because Waller sometimes did odd jobs for him. Waller lived in the rear apartment just above the basement stairs.
Police on Friday charged Waller, who remains on the loose, with criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse and possession of an instrument of a crime.
The murder weapon was a claw hammer, according to court records. Police found a wooden-handled claw hammer with blood spatter on it in Waller’s kitchen, according to court records. Investigators also found blood spatter on the bedroom wall in Waller’s apartment as well as a “large amount of apparent blood” in the bedroom area around and on the bed.
Keckler’s body showed wounds to his face and head that matched a hammer, according to the coroner’s report. His cause of death was due to multiple traumatic injuries.
Police believe Keckler was killed in Waller’s bedroom and his body later dumped in the stair area.
Investigators are still trying to determine how Waller knew Keckler. No one reported Keckler missing.
Waller’s parole agent told police that Waller reported getting into a fight with a homeless man in October “for messing with his girlfriend,” according to court records. No further details about that incident were included in the affidavit, including who that homeless man was.
Meanwhile, police believe Waller has been on the run with his girlfriend since shortly after the killing. He cut off his ankle monitor for state parole on Nov. 12 and has not have any further contact with parole agents, court records said.
The discovery of the killing at 3:28 p.m. Saturday brings the homicide total in Harrisburg so far this year to 22, which matches the highest number of annual killings in at least 16 years. And there still are four weeks left in the year.
The city recorded 14 homicides last year and 22 homicides in all of 2020.
Anyone with information on this investigation may call the Harrisburg Police at 717-558-6900. Tips and information also can be submitted via the CRIMEWATCH website.
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