Benjamin Klinger is not a jealous boyfriend who intentionally killed his girlfriend, the 19-year-old man's attorney said Friday.

Klinger has been at Lancaster County Prison for a week now, charged with homicide and other offenses for a Dec. 4 crash that resulted in Samantha Heller's death.

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Conrad, following meetings with his client, said the Elizabethtown teenager is "mourning" Heller's death.

And Klinger has been mischaracterized, Conrad says, by charging documents that allege he smothered Heller to death after realizing the car crash hadn't killed her.

"The inference that this was a murder is preposterous," Conrad said Friday afternoon. "We intend to defend this young man to the fullest. It's game on."

Conrad said he was hired shortly after Manheim police accused Klinger, a Lancaster Mennonite graduate, of sitting on the McCaskey High School senior's head as she laid injured on a shoulder of Route 283.

After an autopsy showed that Heller died of multiple traumatic injuries and asphyxia, police filed charges that could land Klinger in prison for life, if convicted. Investigators said Thursday they intend to seek a first-degree murder conviction, claiming the killing was deliberate and planned.

"The allegation is shocking, to even suggest such a thing," Conrad said. "We're disappointed at the characterization of the relationship between Ben and Samantha. This young man was very much in love with her."

Also on Friday, police charged Klinger with another set of crimes — his fourth alleged criminal acts of the year.

Manheim Township police said they charged Klinger with felony drug dealing after undercover officers in August bought prescription pills from him.

Assistant District Attorney Christine Wilson approved the homicide charge and the new drug-dealing charges, which were filed late Friday afternoon.

Along with those charges, Klinger also is charged with sending a boy, 15, text-message photos this summer of Klinger and a girl engaged in sex acts.

Also this summer, Klinger ran over Heller's foot with his vehicle, police allege. He was charged with simple assault.

All four cases are pending.

The couple dated, on and off, for about two years, according to Klinger's arrest affidavit. Acquaintances described the relationship as "volatile," the affidavit shows.

Prior to the crash, the affidavit indicates, Heller had been telling people she was pregnant. On the day before her death, Heller was to be tested at a Planned Parenthood location but left before the test was performed.

The autopsy revealed she wasn't carrying a child.

"Ben loved Samantha," Conrad said. "He's mourning her loss, as are her loved ones."

Conrad said he's eager to review police reports and other evidence that will be made available to him during the discovery process, following a preliminary hearing likely to be held next month.

"Samantha was injured in the crash; Ben was injured in the crash," he said. "I look forward to seeing these witnesses and challenging this at every aspect."

The witnesses Conrad referred to gave police chilling accounts of what they saw on the highway shoulder early in the morning of Dec. 4.

According to the arrest affidavit, passers-by and responding police officers reported seeing a female (Heller) laying facedown with a male (Klinger) on top of her.

Police conducted further tests and concluded that, after the crash, Klinger got out of the driver's seat and walked over to Heller to smother the girl.
bhambright@lnpnews.com