Manslaughter charged in Mount Solon death

For as long as their memories stick, Junior Puffenbarger’s grandchildren will remember a genuine smile.

Toddlers Jayson and Krissa Price last saw their 42-year-old grandfather the day before Valentine’s Day. He brought them brand new sleeping bags.

Less than three weeks later, another man killed Junior Puffenbarger, authorities said.

His grandchildren won’t attend the funeral. Family members said they want the children to remember their grandfather as his lively, loving self, a hard-working brick mason dedicated to his family.

Augusta County detectives on Monday informed relatives of Puffenbarger’s death. Then Tuesday they announced a voluntary manslaughter charge against Jeffrey F. Placko, 40, of Mount Solon.

“We received preliminary autopsy results back from the Roanoke lab,” said Lt. A.C. Powers said. “Based on that and other information and interviews that we have conducted, we have obtained and served a warrant on [him].”

Powers said Puffenbarger and Placko were listed as living at the same two-story house at 1592 Mount Solon Road.

A deputy on Monday found the brick mason dead in the backyard of the house after answering a 911 call about a man not breathing. He was pronounced dead on the scene, authorities said. Detectives said the death came at the sour end of a domestic dispute between the men.

Puffenbarger showed signs of trauma to his head, but detectives did not name that as the cause of death.

On Tuesday, family members and friends mourned Puffenbarger’s death.

“You could call him and ask him to do anything and he’d be right on it,” said Kelly Puffenbarger, the man’s daughter. “He loved to ride around and he loved the mountains. He got along with everybody.”

Kelly said her father first learned masonry when he turned 15 — the craft stuck with him 29 years.

Born and raised in Churchville, Junior Puffenbarger often stayed with his mother to care for her. In his spare time, he enjoyed hunting and fishing, Kelly said.

Martha Bird said she moved in with Junior and his mother when she was very young. Technically his niece, Bird said she considered her uncle a brother.

“He spoiled me,” she said. “We were really close. I just remember when I was little, he’d put a car battery onto this little three-wheeler and it went really fast and I ran into everything.”

Slated to be a pallbearer at the funeral, James Marcum said he’d been friends with Junior for years.

“He’s always been a good guy,” Marcum said, “always smiling and laughing and all.”

Marcum said he, Junior and Placko worked a masonry job together last year. He said the domestic dispute happened over Placko’s ex-wife, Mary Susan Dudley. The woman and Puffenbarger recently started dating, Marcum said.

“She called Jeff and he picked her up,” Marcum said. “So Junior got all jealous and went over there.”

Placko’s arrest comes a week before the one-year anniversary of the discovery by Bedford County authorities of his brother, Sean Peter Placko, 42, of Churchville, dead in the James River near a hydro-electrical plant. The two men and one woman charged in Sean Placko’s killing are scheduled for court appearances this month in Bedford County. One who awaits a hearing, Christopher Dudley, is the son of Mary Susan Dudley.

Powers said he expects a more detailed autopsy report, which will include a toxicology reading, in coming weeks.

After an arrest on cocaine possession charges in 2008, Jeffrey Placko served nine months in prison, with 14 years and three months of suspended time to hang over his head upon release. He walked from prison in March 2010 for good behavior, court records show.

Jeffrey Placko is being held without bond at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona.