Offbeat | Caretaker’s death ends old whiskey theft case

The former live-in caretaker of a Pittsburgh-area mansion has died, ending criminal charges that he drank more than USD102,000 worth of old whiskey that he was supposed to be guarding.
A district judge last year ordered 63-year-old John Saunders, of Irwin, to stand trial after hearing testimony from the owner of the South Broadway Manor Bed and Breakfast.
But the Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/1sV3jY0 ) reports Saunders died July 21, ending the case.
The mansion’s owner had claimed she found nine 12-bottle cases of whiskey hidden in the century-old mansion built by industrialist J.P. Brennan after she bought it in 2012.
The whiskey was produced in the early 1900s and was appraised at more than $2,000 a bottle. Saunders was charged after the owner discovered 52 empty bottles on which police found DNA from Saunders’ saliva.