A 53-year-old Lawrence County man is being held in Warren County Prison after Pennsylvania State Police say he beat a woman with deer antlers and choked her during an argument at a hunting camp in rural Forest County. Mark A. Horvath, of New Castle, now faces felony aggravated assault and strangulation charges, along with lesser assault and harassment counts, following the alleged attack this past Sunday.
According to exploreJefferson, Pennsylvania State Police troopers were dispatched to an assault report near Cherry Run Road in Barnett Township, Forest County, after the alleged attack unfolded inside a local camp. Per the criminal complaint, the victim had fled the cabin seeking help for wounds to her head and arm, eventually making her way to a neighboring property. Troopers found her on a neighboring front porch holding a rag to a bleeding head wound and applied bandages before emergency medical services transported her to DuBois Area Hospital.
Investigators say the confrontation began after Horvath had allegedly been drinking heavily since the previous day, according to a statement the victim gave police. Troopers reported that Horvath accused the victim of infidelity during an argument, then struck her multiple times in the head with deer antlers and pinned her by the throat.
Troopers Describe a Struggle Inside the Cabin
Per the criminal complaint, Horvath climbed on top of the victim and placed his elbow on her neck, making it difficult for her to breathe. The victim pushed him off before fleeing to a neighboring camp for help. Troopers who responded to the scene say they observed a bloody deer mount and bloody deer antlers in plain view inside the cabin bedroom.
When troopers arrived, they set up a perimeter around the camp and called for Horvath to step outside. Investigators say Horvath had told the woman to leave before police arrived, and he ultimately gave officers consent to enter the building. He was then placed in custody by Pennsylvania State Police.
Charges Filed by Troopers From the Marienville Barracks
Pennsylvania State Police out of the Troop C Marienville Barracks filed a criminal complaint against Horvath, who faces aggravated assault, strangulation, simple assault, and harassment charges, according to police. The specific counts include aggravated assault for attempting to cause serious bodily injury or causing injury with extreme indifference, strangulation for applying pressure to the throat or neck, simple assault as a second-degree misdemeanor, and a summary harassment charge for subjecting another to physical contact.
Under Pennsylvania law, aggravated assault is classified as a first-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison when it involves an attempt to cause serious bodily injury, according to a legal analysis from James Law. Strangulation carries its own weight as a second-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison when committed against a family or household member or intimate partner, per The McShane Firm, which notes the offense was made a standalone crime in Pennsylvania in 2016. The simple assault charge, by contrast, is typically graded as a second-degree misdemeanor carrying a maximum of two years in prison and a $5,000 fine, according to Margetas Legal.
Bail Set at $75,000 as Case Heads to Warren County
Horvath was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Raymond F. Zydonik and could not post the $75,000 monetary bail set in his case. He was then committed to Warren County Prison, a facility with a capacity of 139 detainees located at 407 Market Street in Warren, operating under the authority of the Warren County Prison Board.
Warren houses the proceedings even though the alleged crime happened across the county line in Forest County because the two counties together form Pennsylvania's 37th Judicial District, sharing court administration and Common Pleas judges who travel between the Warren and Forest county courthouses as needed. Judge Zydonik presides over Magisterial District 37-2-01, headquartered at 333 Hickory Street in Warren. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for September 1 at 10 a.m., where a judge will determine whether prosecutors have presented enough evidence to send the case to the Court of Common Pleas for trial.
The remote setting underscores just how isolated the alleged attack was: Barnett Township recorded just 309 residents in the 2020 U.S. Census, down from 361 a decade earlier. Forest County as a whole remains the least populous county in Pennsylvania, with a total population under 6,800 residents. It is not yet known whether forensic analysis of the seized deer mount will be presented at the upcoming hearing, and the victim's current medical condition following her treatment has not been publicly disclosed.
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