Mount Solon, VA: Man arrested in Mount Solon slaying

By Calvin Trice and David Ress/staff •
ctrice@newsleader.com,dress@newsleader.com•
March 2, 2011

MOUNT SOLON — One of the three residents of the
white farmhouse on Mount Solon Road is dead and a
nother is charged with killing him.

Augusta County sheriff's deputies arrested Jeffrey F.
Placko, 40, of 1592 Mount Solon Road and charged
him Tuesday with voluntary manslaughter in the
death of Junior C. Puffenbarger, 42, who also lived
at the address.

Puffenbarger suffered extensive trauma to his head
and upper chest, Lt. A.C. Powers of the sheriff's
office said. Deputies found him dead in the yard of
the Mount Solon house about 1:30 a.m. Monday.

He declined to comment when asked if the incident
was related to the death nearly a year ago of Placko's
older brother Sean.

Two men, Christopher Dudley of Churchville and
Andrew Ottinger of Waynesboro have been charged
with first-degree murder in Sean Placko's beating
death. Prosecutors dropped charges against
Dudley's wife, Susan.

Powers said Puffenbarger's death was the result of
an altercation connected with a domestic dispute in
Churchville, a few hours before his death.

He declined to comment when asked if the dispute
involved Placko's former wife, Mary Susan Dudley,
who is Christopher Dudley's mother. The couple
divorced last year, after a two-year separation that
included a the nine months Placko was behind bars
for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute
and for receiving stolen property, court records
show.

Placko was convicted of a misdemeanor assault
against Mary Dudley in 2003, and was fined $50. He
received a 30-day suspended sentence in 2006 for
another assault against her, with the matter taken
under advisement pending marriage counseling.
The charge against him was dismissed a year later,
records show. The year before, meanwhile he
charged his wife with assault, but that charge was
dismissed, court records show.

Jeffrey Placko had two other assault cases filed
against him that were later dismissed — a
misdemeanor case brought in September 2002 and
a felony arrest in October 2004 — records show.

Powers said Placko was arrested on the basis of a
preliminary autopsy of Puffenbarger, as well as
several interviews and other information.

Placko is in Middle River Regional Jail, where he is
being held without bond.

Staff writer Megan Williams contributed to this
report