Former caretaker convicted of abuse arrested following deadly stabbing in Scranton

by: Cody Butler

SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU-TV) — A woman on house arrest for her role in an abuse scandal at a local care home has been arrested in what appears to be a domestic incident that left one man dead.

Police were called to Delaware Street Wednesday night for a reported stabbing. The victim, 31-year-old George Shencavitz, was admitted to the hospital for multiple stab wounds. He later died from the wounds at GCMC.

Lackawanna County Coroner Timothy Rowland says an autopsy confirmed the cause of death was multiple penetrating wounds and the manner of death is homicide.

Eileen Dougherty was named as the suspect and taken into custody on charges of aggravated assault. Those charges will be upgraded to first degree murder.

According to court paperwork, Shencavitz threatened to call house arrest on Dougherty to report violations which would land her back in prison.

Police say during questioning, Dougherty told them she went downstairs and grabbed a butcher’s knife and stabbed Shencavitz twice in the abdomen. Shencavitz reportedly ran to the bathroom to call 911 and while on the phone, Dougherty stabbed him again.

“I was upstairs, my daughter was downstairs, so was my wife,” Robert Shaffern, who lives next to the home where the incident occurred said. “We heard a man screaming. I could not make out what he was saying but my daughter downstairs said that he was talking about being stabbed.”

Shaffern’s wife is a nurse and ran two doors down in an attempt to help.

“By the time she was out of the house the screaming had stopped,” Shaffern said. “The guy had disappeared.”

Police found Shencavitz a block and a half away on Penn Avenue. Police remained on the scene through Thursday to gather evidence.

“I saw tons of cops which is unusual, I’ve never seen that before. So, I was looking out my window, thought nothing of it, heard nothing, so just minded my business,” Matthew Leathers said.

Dougherty was found guilty of abusing care-dependent residents of The Arc of Northeastern Pennsylvania in early 2020. She was sentenced to between eight to 23 months behind bars, with eight years probation after time served back in November. However, she was recently resentenced to 8 to 23 months on restricted probation with the first 6 months on house arrest.

“They’re quiet, never seen anything happening over there. So yeah, it is surprising,” Leathers said.

Dougherty was arraigned on her aggravated assault and aggravated assault with a deadly weapons charges Thursday morning. First degree murder will be added when she is arraigned on that charge Friday morning.

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Former caretaker convicted of abuse arrested following deadly stabbing in Scranton