Children and Youth Services Worker Killed by Coworker

York County, PA (WorkersCompensation.com) – A York County Children and Youth Services (CYS) worker is dead after an argument with is former coworker, police said.

Pennsylvania State Police said they were called to perform a welfare check on Keith Monn, 61, in Mount Pleasant Township on Dec. 12, when Monn failed to show up for work. According to a nine-page affidavit of probable cause filed by the state police, Monn had called off of work sick on Dec. 11.

When troopers arrived at Monn’s home, they were unable to make contact with anyone inside, even though both of Monn’s vehicles were in the driveway. After several attempts to contact anyone inside the home, the troopers entered the house through a bedroom window. There they found Monn dead on the floor between the bedroom and the kitchen of the house, along with signs of a struggle. Monn appeared to be dead of blunt force trauma to his head, officers said, along with a possible broken arm, bruises and a large pool of blood near his head, on the floor, and on the wall.

As officers were on the scene, a friend of Monn’s, Joseph Harner, arrived to check on Monn. He said he had received multiple phone calls and texts from Kyle Bartram, Monn’s coworker. Bartram told Harner he had received a call asking about Monn’s whereabouts, and Bartram wanted Harner to check on Monn. Harner said Bartram had lived with Monn and was Monn’s emergency contact. Bartram told Harner he couldn’t respond because he was in Virginia.

Harner said that Bartram had previously told him that Monn had said he was interested in leaving his house and all of his belongings to Bartram when he died.

In interviewing other employees, police found that Monn called in sick to work via email, which was not the normal way to call in sick. Employees also told police that Monn had left work early the previous week because Bartram was at his house and he was afraid he would steal things. The employees said they had originally called Bartram to check on Monn, but Bartram told them he was in Stafford, Virginia staying with a friend because Monn had been mad at Bartram for taking things out of the house without permission. Bartram had quit working at CYS without notice a few weeks prior.

Further investigation revealed that Bartram and Monn had been in an argument about dead-bolt locks on the home and Monn’s decision to change the beneficiary of his life insurance policy from Bartram to Bartram’s daughter.

When police called Bartram to investigate further, Bartram said he was on his way to Altoona, Virginia, to visit his girlfriend’s mother. The call was abruptly ended when Bartram said he was being pulled over by the police.

In fact, Bartram was in Sandusky, Ohio, and was pulled over by Ohio State Highway Patrol for an outstanding warrant. Bartram told arresting officers that there was a bat in his truck. When they confiscated the bat, they found it covered in blood.

Once in custody, Bartram said he and Monn had become friends and Monn had asked him to be his roommate. Monn had gotten him a job at CYS and the two formed a sort of father-son relationship.

Earlier this year, however, Monn got mad at Bartram for giving him COVID. Bartram, in turn, got angry with Monn for returning to the home and entering through a door that Monn had told Bartram there was no key for.

After a heated argument, Bartram said he didn’t remember what happened on Dec. 10, but that he remembers seeing Monn on Dec. 11 and that Monn was sitting up. Bartram admitted to police he swung the bat a few times out of anger, and hit a nearby toaster, but that he hadn’t harmed Monn.

Police found that Bartram had put more than $800 in charges on Monn’s credit cards during his flight to Ohio.

When they interviewed Bartram’s girlfriend, she said he had told her that “he had to kill his father, and to kill his father, he had to kill Monn first.

Bartram was charged with felony counts of criminal homicide and robbery in connection with Monn’s death.

Because of previous charges against him, Bartram was denied bail and was ordered held in the Adams County Prison. His preliminary hearing date is Dec. 27.

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