Carol Ann Whary, who is charged with attempted homicide relating to a Dec. 9 shooting behind her Zerbe Township home, was released from SCI-Muncy Jan. 22 and is living at 49 N. Grant St., Shamokin.
Sue Bensinger, deputy press secretary for the state Department of Corrections, confirmed Whary was released from prison late in the day Jan. 22. Whary's attorney, John Broda of the county Public Defender's Office, said Wednesday he has not spoken to his client since her release.
At the conclusion of a habeas corpus hearing Jan. 21, Northumberland County Judge Charles Saylor granted Broda's request to release the 62-year-old Whary on $20,000 unsecured bail. Saylor ordered her to live at a home she owns in Shamokin in an effort to avoid further conflict with her stepson and victim, Dean Whary, who lives next door on Trevorton Road.
Whary had been incarcerated on $20,000 cash bail since her arrest on multiple charges the day of the shooting.
Whary and her 14-year-old grandson, Gage Hertzog, are charged by Trooper Kevin Kearney of state police at Stonington in connection with six shots allegedly fired from two different weapons at Dean Whary.
Hertzog, who is charged with the same offenses as Whary except for terroristic threats and corruption of minors, remains detained at Central Counties Youth Center in Bellefonte. His adjudication hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday before Northumberland County President Judge William H. Wiest was continued and has not yet been rescheduled.
At her hearing last week conducted via video from SCI-Muncy, where female county inmates have been incarcerated since a Jan. 14 devastating fire at Northumberland County Prison, Whary told Saylor she has two bad kidneys and diabetes.
Whary said she was in a coma for 15 days and hospitalized for a couple months before spending time in a nursing home. Whary said she receives $907 per month in Social Security survivor benefits and can't work due to her illnesses.
In granting the bail reduction, Saylor ordered Whary to comply with all supervised bail conditions set by the adult probation department. He prohibited her from having contact with Dean Whary and Hertzog, and ordered her to stay away from her residence.
Whary's residence at 439 Trevorton Road was deemed unfit to live in following a search of the property by state police that revealed animal feces, dead animals, garbage and other unsanitary conditions. The home also had no heat, according to Kearney.