SMETHPORT — All charges against the Bradford man charged in the
death of a woman and her infant daughter in March were bound to
McKean County Court on Wednesday.

Waide Nolf, 38, is charged with two counts of homicide for the
March 19 deaths of Tonya Haight, 24, and her 22-day-old daughter
Tamara.

A preliminary hearing was held Wednesday at the McKean County
Courthouse with Magisterial District Judge Dom Cercone presiding.
Prosecuting the case was District Attorney Ray Learn, with
Assistant District Attorney Kristjan Whiteway. Defense attorneys
are Gary Knaresboro and Mike Marshall, both of whom are certified
to represent clients in death penalty cases.

As of Wednesday, Learn had yet to announce whether the death
penalty is being sought in the case.

Cpl. Mark Russo of the state police criminal investigation unit
from Erie testified that Nolf confessed to the murders. He, along
with Warren-based state trooper Brian Zeybel, administered a
polygraph to Nolf on March 26.

The interview lasted nine hours and eight minutes, Russo
said.

“Mr. Nolf confessed to the fact that he killed Tonya and
Tamara,” Russo said. The officer said Nolf told him he had gotten
up about 6 a.m. to use the bathroom. Tonya Haight, holding Tamara,
opened the bathroom door while he was inside. She chastised him
before leaving.

When he was finished, he told her he was done. And then, Russo
said, in the span of about one minute, Nolf decided to kill Tonya
Haight.

“He pushed her over the tub and held her down by the back of her
neck,” Russo said, adding that Nolf closed the drain and turned on
the water in the tub.

He then detailed Tonya Haight’s efforts to save herself and her
baby — reaching for the faucet, trying to open the drain and
kicking at Nolf. After about two minutes, Russo recounted from
Nolf’s confession, Haight “relaxed.” He then opened the drain,
turned off the water and came up with a plan to tell people he
“discovered the bodies” about 9 a.m. when he got up.

Also to testify were McKean County Coroner Mike Cahill and
Bradford City Police Chief Chris Lucco, who was a patrolman at the
time of the incident.

Cahill said both Tonya and Tamara Haight were dead when he
arrived at 56 Pleasant St. at 9:30 a.m. March 19. And both had been
dead for several hours, the coroner said. Autopsies were performed
in Erie and showed both died of drowning. Tonya Haight’s body also
showed signs of blunt force trauma to the back of her head and
neck, showing that she had been held underwater. The coroner said
the mother’s head being held in the bathtub had forced the baby
under the water, leading to the infant’s death.

When Lucco testified, he recounted hearing the call for an
unresponsive infant and responding to see if he could be of any
medical assistance. He went to the house within 30 seconds of the
emergency dispatch and was met at the door by Curtis Cushman, a
resident. Cushman motioned him to the kitchen, where John “JJ”
Haight was “visibly upset” and showed him the infant, who was
laying on top of the dryer in the kitchen. The infant was cold, wet
and obviously deceased, Lucco testified.

Haight then told him about Tonya Haight. Lucco found her body on
the bathroom floor. He contacted then-acting police chief Carl
Milks; the 911 Center to ask for the coroner to be dispatched;
McKean County Detective Gerald Okerlund; and the state police
forensic team.

The residents of the house — Cushman, JJ Haight, Nolf, a
1-year-old child; the Haight’s 2-year-old child; and Cushman’s
girlfriend Tonya Gunn — were all asked to go outside the residence
so police could secure the crime scene.

The residents of the house were interviewed in the days
following the deaths. Nolf’s story to police didn’t make sense,
Lucco said. Nolf had said he believed Tonya Haight had a seizure
while in the bathroom and fell into the tub, hit her head and
drowned in a half-full bathtub. He said he found her in the
half-full tub at 9 a.m. However, subsequent testing on the tub
showed it took about a half hour to drain from the level Nolf said
it had been; Lucco was at the house at 9:04 a.m. and the tub was
empty and dry.

Knaresboro asked if anyone else took a polygraph test. Lucco
said no. Tests had been planned for JJ Haight and Cushman, but were
canceled at the request of the prosecutor.

Following the testimony of Cahill, Lucco and Russo, Learn rested
his case. The defense presented no witnesses.

Cercone bound the charges to court. Nolf remains incarcerated
without bail.