Pittsburgh man sentenced to life for 2019 slaying of Monroeville woman

One of two men found guilty of first-degree murder after they killed a Monroeville woman and stole her car more than three years ago was sentenced on Tuesday to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Ramonta Yancey, 29, of Pittsburgh was also ordered by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski to serve an additional seven to 14 years for conspiracy and robbery of a motor vehicle.

His co-defendant, Daron Parks, 29, of Washington, is scheduled to be sentenced by Borkowski on Jan. 9.

He, too, faces a mandatory penalty of life in prison without parole.

Both men were found guilty by a jury in September.

Police found the body of Tameka Dallas, 43, the morning of Sept. 12, 2019, near a trail at McKeesport’s Renziehausen Park.

According to the criminal complaint, her legs were bound together just above the ankles, and her nose was bleeding.

Dallas died of strangulation.

The men wanted Dallas’ car, a 2007 silver Chevrolet Impala, investigators said. The prosecution said that Yancey had Dallas’ phone number and reached out to her that night.

She drove to meet them at an apartment in Harrison Village that belonged to Yancey’s girlfriend.

After they killed Dallas and left her body, the prosecution said, the two defendants drove around in her car the entire next day.

Video surveillance at the park’s dek hockey rink showed the Impala leaving the park just after 11:15 p.m. on Sept. 11.

License plate reading cameras then spotted the car in Bridgeville, Heidelberg and North Versailles the next day.

Surveillance footage from the North Versailles Walmart showed Yancey and Parks exiting the vehicle in the parking lot the next day, as well.

Evidence at trial showed that the ligature used to bind Dallas’ ankles together matched identically to a sheet set in Yancey’s girlfriend’s apartment.

The prosecution also presented evidence that tracked Yancey’s cell phone to the exact time and location when Dallas’ body was left in the park.

Dallas’ mother, Laura Dallas, gave a victim-impact statement on Tuesday, telling the court that she missed her daughter.

“She definitely did not deserve this at all,” Laura Dallas said. “I’ll miss her every day for the rest of my life.”

Meka, as the family called her, loved interior decorating and music — she loved oldies and Luther Vandross, her mom said.

Laura Dallas said she was satisfied with the sentence.

“He got what he deserved,” she said. “I’m good with the outcome.”