New trial ordered in General Wayne Inn murder

When he won a conviction in the high-profile General Wayne Inn murder case largely on circumstantial evidence, prosecutor Bruce L. Castor Jr. made an observation that turned out to be prescient.

"I don't think this is the end of it," he said.

This week, a three-judge Superior Court panel ordered a new trial for Guy A. Sileo Jr. in the slaying of his business partner and the inn's executive chef, James Webb, on the night of Dec. 26, 1996, in a third-floor office there.

For the historic Main Line venue, long considered a national landmark among ghost-hunters, it was a true-life Gothic horror tale, one resulting in Sileo's conviction in 2001.

But in a split decision handed down Tuesday, the panel said the conviction was tainted because the jury did not receive adequate instructions on Sileo's alibi.

"This is my worst nightmare come true," said Carol Casey of Folsom, Delaware County, a close friend of Webb and his wife, Robin.

"I think the opinion is complete nonsense," said Castor, now a Montgomery County commissioner. He has a framed drawing on his office wall of himself delivering closing arguments in that case, almost exactly nine years ago.

Castor said Friday that while Sileo insisted he was not present when Webb was killed, he could produce no corroborating evidence on his whereabouts. Sileo testified that he was at the restaurant with Webb that night but left to go to a bar before the slaying occurred.

Castor said that had the defense tried to make an alibi case, "I would have used it against them."

It might be a while before any retrial occurs.

Castor's successor as district attorney, Risa Vetri Ferman, said her office would appeal the decision to the larger court and expected to prevail.

Jules Epstein, Sileo's appeal attorney, was unavailable Friday for comment.

Sileo, who turns 43 this month, was sentenced to life for fatally shooting Webb, then 31, in the back of the head.

He remains at a medium-security facility in Somerset County, according to the Department of Corrections.

The 300-year-old building on Montgomery Avenue in Lower Merion now houses the Chabad Center for Jewish Life, including a synagogue and Lubavitch outreach center.

In 1996, Webb and Sileo were operating the inn as a restaurant, but were having financial problems.

The prosecution contended that Sileo was under pressure to repay a loan and killed Webb to collect on a life-insurance policy naming Sileo as the beneficiary.

Sileo contended that his ex-girlfriend Felicia Moyse, who worked at the inn, admitted that she killed Webb. Sileo's attorneys suggested that Webb had not approved of the relationship. Two months after Webb's slaying, Moyse committed suicide.

Before the trial, Sileo had been convicted of perjury for lying about a gun he owned. Police found a .25-caliber gun at his house, but investigators determined that it was not the murder weapon. Sileo testified before a grand jury that it was the only gun he owned.

Later, he told a police informant that he owned another weapon.

The murder weapon was never found.

The inn closed as a restaurant in 2002 after attempts by different owners to keep it alive.

The structure, built in the early 18th century, remains a legend in the ghost-hunting universe, according to Michael J. Norman, a Wisconsin author of books on ghost tales.

He and his late coauthor, Beth Scott, wrote of a 1972 séance at the General Wayne in which "entities" indicated they were satisfied with afterlife at the inn. Among those making appearances were a German Hessian soldier named "Wilhelm," killed during a Revolutionary War battle, and eight other Hessians.

Norman said Scott, an Ardmore native, on a visit to the inn "saw the spirit of one of the maids walk right through the wall."

Perhaps fittingly, Edgar Allan Poe is believed to have written poems in the tavern.