Police reconstructed several days of activity before finding Philip Schiedel’s remains in the kitchen of a downtown apartment.
BUTLER, Pa. — A garbage container missing from behind a downtown jewelry store became a key physical link in a Butler police investigation after officers found the body of Philip Schiedel concealed inside it at a nearby apartment.
The container’s route, pieced together through business surveillance footage, witness accounts and statements attributed to defendant Cavell Watkins, created a timeline extending from Schiedel’s reported collapse to the discovery of his remains. Police allege Watkins took the container several days after finding his roommate unresponsive, moved it through city streets and used it to hide the body. Watkins, 64, faces felony possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and misdemeanor abuse of a corpse. The charges do not accuse him of killing Schiedel.
The sequence described in public reports began inside the North Main Street apartment shared by the two men. Watkins told investigators that he, Schiedel and a woman had been using crack cocaine, according to accounts of the criminal complaint. He said he and the woman left the residence for about 40 minutes while Schiedel was still alive. When they returned, Watkins said, Schiedel was unresponsive in a bedroom. A later Butler Eagle report said Watkins told police he attempted CPR before concluding that Schiedel had died.
There was no reported call to 911 at that point. Watkins allegedly told detectives that he thought Schiedel had overdosed and became afraid. Police said he first covered the body with a sheet and then left it in the apartment. Investigators had not publicly established the precise day or time of death when the initial charges were filed. Local reports said officers believed Schiedel had been dead for days by the time they entered the residence June 29. Watkins’ overdose belief remained his account, not an official medical conclusion.
The next visible part of the timeline emerged outside Robert Stephens Custom Jewelers. Steve Goslaw, the store’s owner, told the Butler Eagle that an employee noticed a commercial garbage container missing from the back lot on a Friday. Goslaw’s wife reviewed the business’s security camera. The recording showed a man whom police later identified as Watkins examining the container and wheeling it away shortly before 7:30 a.m., according to the newspaper. Goslaw initially believed the container might have been damaged or displaced.
The missing container appeared to be an ordinary property problem until Goslaw contacted Vogel Disposal Service for a replacement. The company asked him to provide evidence that it had been stolen if he wanted to avoid a $95 replacement fee, he said. He supplied surveillance video. Before he knew the container’s alleged use, the footage served primarily as documentation of a theft. Its significance changed when Butler police visited the store and said the container had been recovered inside a nearby apartment with a dead man in it.
Other footage obtained by local television stations appeared to show Watkins walking with a large garbage container on East New Castle Street. Police alleged that he went several blocks to obtain the container and returned with it to the apartment. The public reports do not offer a continuous recording of the entire route, and the footage itself does not show what was later placed inside. It provides a reported visual element that investigators could compare with the jewelry store’s recording, the recovered container and Watkins’ alleged statements.
Police said Watkins later placed Schiedel’s body inside the container and covered the remains with blankets and pillows. Reports based on the complaint described the body’s position in more detail, but authorities have not suggested that the positioning explained how Schiedel died. A bottle of cologne was found on top of the container when officers entered the kitchen, according to local reports. Investigators have not publicly explained whether they believe the bottle had evidentiary value or was merely observed during the search.
The investigative timeline ended with information reaching Butler City police that a deceased person might be inside the apartment building in the 200 block of North Main Street. Officers arrived June 29 to conduct a welfare check. Watkins, known in the area as “J.J.,” answered the door and consented to their entry, according to reports citing court paperwork. The officers found the large container in the kitchen, opened it and discovered Schiedel’s remains beneath the bedding, police said.
The Butler County Coroner’s Office responded and later performed an autopsy. At first, authorities withheld Schiedel’s identity while they sought formal confirmation and notified his family. Police also said toxicology testing was pending. An autopsy may document injuries and physical findings, while toxicology testing can identify alcohol, drugs or other substances, but public reports had not disclosed the final results. No official cause or manner of death had been announced in the sources reviewed for this article.
The case therefore contains two related but legally separate lines of inquiry. One concerns what happened to Schiedel before he became unresponsive and whether drugs contributed to his death. The other concerns what Watkins allegedly did afterward. The abuse-of-corpse charge focuses on the reported delay in contacting authorities, removal of the commercial container and concealment of the remains. The felony drug count indicates police also allege Watkins possessed a controlled substance with intent to deliver, though reports have provided limited details about that accusation.
Watkins’ account to police could become important evidence, but prosecutors would still need to establish that any statement was lawfully obtained and accurately recorded. The defense may examine when Watkins was questioned, whether he had been advised of his rights and whether physical evidence supports the account attributed to him. Public reports have not described the defense’s position on those issues. They also have not identified the woman Watkins said was present before he and Schiedel were left apart.
The commercial setting added witnesses who encountered pieces of the investigation without seeing the whole sequence. Employees at Pizza Joe’s, located below the apartment, noticed police behind the building and saw authorities remove a large container. Jeff Eberhardt, whose wife owns the restaurant, said the discovery was shocking. Neighbors told local television stations they believed emergency services should have been contacted immediately. Their statements reflect the community’s reaction but do not establish the cause of death or the defendant’s legal responsibility.
On July 13, Watkins waived his preliminary hearing. District Judge William Fullerton lowered his bail from $100,000 to $25,000 after his public defender said the reduced amount would allow Watkins to seek a work assignment in the Butler County Prison cafeteria, the Butler Eagle reported. Waiving the hearing moved the existing charges forward without requiring prosecutors to publicly lay out their evidence at that stage. Watkins remained incarcerated, and no guilty plea or verdict was entered.
The available timeline has several documented points: Schiedel was reportedly alive when Watkins and a woman left the apartment; Watkins said they returned about 40 minutes later and found him unresponsive; a jewelry-store container disappeared days before police discovered the body; video reportedly captured Watkins moving such a container; and officers recovered Schiedel’s remains inside it during the welfare check. What remains unresolved is equally significant, including the official cause and exact time of death, the complete basis for the drug charge and whether additional evidence will change the prosecution.
A formal arraignment was scheduled for Sept. 1 for Watkins in Butler County Common Pleas Court. Until the case is resolved through a plea, dismissal or trial, the allegations remain unproven, and Watkins is presumed innocent.
Author note: Last updated July 28, 2026.