Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published April 18, 2023 10:16 A.M.
(Aliquippa, PA) Beaver County DA David J. Lozier announced Monday afternoon that a Beaver County Jury found Rico Ramone Rodgers, Jr. guilty of homicide, and the co-defendant in the case Jeffrey Lamont Flowers, Jr. entered a guilty plea on the eve of the trial. Curtis Flowers, III was shot to death on the afternoon of November 24, 2020. An extensive investigation by the PA State Police led to the criminal homicide charges being filed on July 28, 2022. Rodgers and Alford were charged with criminal homicide and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, in the death of Curtis Flowers, IIl. On April 10, 2023, the date set for the jury selection in the case, Alford entered a plea to criminal homicide, specifically third-degree murder, and to felony firearms possession. Alford’s sentencing is set for June 9, 2023.
A jury trial against Rodgers was held from April 10-14, 2023, on the 14th the jury returned a guilty verdict to criminal homicide, specifically first-degree murder. The honorable Judge Dale Fouse rendered a non-jury verdict of guilty on the felony firearms possession count. The DA explained that first degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentence hearing will be scheduled at a later date.
DA Lozier recognizes the outstanding investigation by PSP’s Crime Unit and Forensic Teams PSP outstanding partnership in this case, and as well the stellar work on the trial by Assistant DA’s Briattany Smith and Richard Absey. This case, the guilty plea, and the jury verdict stand as a testament to the outstanding partnership between our gfencies in support of law enforcement and the citizens of Beaver County. We also wish to express our continued sympathies for the family of Curtis Flowers.
On September 1, 2022, a Beaver County jury found Rico Ramone Rodgers, Jr, guilty of Third-Degree Murder in the January 23, , 2021 death of Kron Thomas. Rodgers was sentenced to 18 1/2 to 40 years in that case.
