Scout leader fatally stabbed on Ind. hiking trip
By Associated Press
Aug 22, 2011 2:50 AM CDT

A 76-year-old man leading members of an Indiana Boy Scout troop on a hiking trip was stabbed to death Sunday when the group stopped to identify a tree, and a suspect who lives near the trail was arrested after a police chase, authorities said.

The assistant scout leader, Arthur L. Anderson, of Kokomo, Ind., was with another male adult and two boys Sunday afternoon on the Nickel Plate Trail in Bunker Hill when he was stabbed in the neck in what witnesses told police was an unprovoked attack. Authorities and medical personnel responded to a 911 call, but he died at the scene.

Shane C. Golitko, 22, of Bunker Hill, was arrested and was being held without bond in the Miami County Jail. He ignored a state trooper's attempted traffic stop and led police on an eight-mile chase that reached speeds of 50 mph, according to a news release from the Indiana State Police.

One minute before getting the 911 call about the stabbing, state police say that Golitko's mother, Valerie Henson, called 911 to report that her son had assaulted her during an altercation at their home, about 150 yards south of the trail.

Henson, who was treated for a broken arm after the alleged assault, told authorities that Golitko got a knife from his home, destroyed items inside the house and stabbed two dogs, killing one, before allegedly walking to the trail where Anderson was stabbed.

Besides the murder charge, Golitko was charged with battery causing serious bodily injury for the alleged assault of his mother and with battery by bodily waste for allegedly spitting at officers while he was being processed into jail.

Anderson had been involved with scouting for 50 years, police said.