Authorities say 77-year-old man pleaded guilty to 2022 shooting in Lehigh

A 77-year-old Monroe County man pleaded guilty in 2022, a 67-year-old man died at a Lehigh Township home, authorities said.

William Arthur Strunk of Strausdburg was initially charged with felony murder; misdemeanor possession of crime instruments; and carrying a firearm without a license. However, court records show those charges were later dropped. Strunk, during a hearing Friday before Northampton County Circuit Judge Paula A. Roschioli pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the death Michael Austin Powers.

Strunk was arrested in March 2023 after a nine-month investigation. The Northampton County District Attorney’s Office announced the guilty plea Monday morning. District Attorney Steven G. Baratta said the request came as the case was scheduled to go to trial on Monday.

Strunk admitted he was at Powers’ home on the morning of June 27, 2022, and fired the fatal shots that killed Powers, the Northampton County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday morning.

Strunk remains incarcerated in the Northampton County Jail after being denied bail in the case. Alexandria J. Crouthamel, a co-counsel who previously represented Strunk along with current public defender Theodore Skaarup, told lehighvalleylive.com that the guilty plea was the right move for Strunk.

“I think the plea was favorable to him given his age and the facts,” she said Monday.

The case unfolded when the Pennsylvania State Police were called on June 29, 2022, to check on Powers’ welfare. Investigators found Powers dead at his home in the 4500 block of Lower Three Mile Lane.

Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek said he pronounced Powers dead at the scene and ruled the death a homicide. Investigators said Powers had multiple gunshot wounds and the cause of death was gunshot wounds to the chest and mouth. State police said the bullets recovered from Powers’ body were .38/.357 caliber.

In March, investigators searched Strunk’s Ann Street apartment in Stroudsburg, seizing a .38-caliber handgun and a box of ammunition inside the home, court records state. The investigation did not reveal the motive for the shooting. However, Strunk allegedly admitted in an interview at the Monroe County District Attorney’s office after the raid that he shot and killed Powers four times, court records state.

Strunk is due back in court on Jan. 14 for sentencing. He faces up to 40 years in state prison.

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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann can be contacted at [email protected].