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Author: Vinny Vella

  • A Montco man, jailed for killing his wife over their cat’s vet bills, was denied lifesaving care, suit says

    A Montco man, jailed for killing his wife over their cat’s vet bills, was denied lifesaving care, suit says

    The family of a Lower Pottsgrove Township man who was accused of beating his wife to death over the mounting cost of their cat’s veterinary care is suing Montgomery County and two medical companies, saying they denied him crucial healthcare while in the county jail, leading to his untimely death.

    Barton Seltmann, 84, died in April 2024 from urosepsis from “an undiagnosed and untreated urinary tract infection,” according to the wrongful-death lawsuit, which was filed last week in federal court in Philadelphia.

    A neck fracture that Seltmann sustained after falling in his jail cell also contributed to his death, the filing said.

    The suit names the county, as well as PrimeCare Medical and Creative Health Services, two companies contracted to provide medical care to inmates at the jail.

    Neither company responded to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners said the county does not comment on pending litigation.

    Seltmann was charged with murder and related crimes in November 2023 after, prosecutors said, he killed his wife, Margaret, during a dispute over the cost of their cat’s medical bills.

    In interviews after the incident, Seltmann, an Army veteran and former West Pottsgrove Township police officer, seemed to believe his wife was still alive, according to court filings. He did not grasp the reality of the incident and showed early signs of dementia.

    A month before his death, a Montgomery County judge dismissed the case against Seltmann, ruling that he was not fit to stand trial because his mental-health faculties and physical condition had deteriorated so significantly.

    But Patrick Duffy, the lawyer representing Seltmann’s children, wrote in the lawsuit that Seltmann’s marked decline in health came only while he was incarcerated.

    “Despite the obvious signs and symptoms indicating worsening progression of his condition, Mr. Seltmann was denied adequate medical care and intervention which allowed his condition … to develop into a state where it was irreversible and no further care could prevent his death,” Duffy said.

    The lawsuit asserts that jail staff did not allow Seltmann’s children to visit him due to the seriousness of the charges he faced at the time, which prevented his deteriorating health from being addressed sooner.

    Staff at the prison, including medical providers from PrimeCare and Creative Health Services, made a “calculated decision” to delay providing Seltmann with more intensive treatment in hopes he would soon be transferred to Norristown State Hospital, the suit contends.

    During intake at the jail, Seltmann appeared healthy, but by the end of his six weeks there, the lawsuit said, he was struggling to communicate, with “rambling and incoherent speech” and issues focusing.

    Seltmann developed a fungal rash on his groin and injuries to his feet and legs that later made it difficult for him to walk, causing him to fall and injure his head.

    In the suit, Duffy alleges that these issues were visible to, and known by, staff at the jail, but they refused to make a referral for him for outside care until his body temperature dropped to 86.5 degrees and he was retaining urine.

    When Seltmann was taken to Einstein Montgomery Hospital on Jan. 11, 2024, doctors found he had an acute neck fracture from his previous falls at the jail.

    He was later transferred to Jefferson Einstein Hospital in Olney, where he died months later.

  • Gov. Phil Murphy asks the Indian government for help in bringing accused killer of Maple Shade mother and son to trial

    Gov. Phil Murphy asks the Indian government for help in bringing accused killer of Maple Shade mother and son to trial

    New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has asked the Indian government to extradite an accused murderer to South Jersey to face criminal charges in the death of a woman and her son in Maple Shade.

    Nazeer Hameed, 38, was charged last month with killing Sasikala Narra and her 6-year-old son, Anish, in a crime that shocked the community because of its brutality.

    Narra and her son were found stabbed to death inside their home at the Fox Meadow Apartments in March 2017. The two suffered violent stab and slice wounds to their head and hands, and Anish was nearly decapitated in the attack, prosecutors said.

    Hanumantha Rao Narra, Narra’s husband and the boy’s father, found the bodies, prosecutors said.

    Investigators said Hameed waited until the woman and child were alone in the house before attacking them. Afterward, prosecutors said, Hameed fled to his native India and has remained there ever since.

    In a letter to Vinay Kwatra, the Indian ambassador to America, Murphy said it was important that Hameed face justice.

    “This heinous crime shocked our state, and for eight years investigators pursued every available lead,” the governor said.

    “This request reflects not only the seriousness of the alleged offenses, but also the enduring spirit of cooperation between India and the United States in upholding the rule of law and combating violent crime.”

    Sasikala Narra, 38, and her son, Anish, 6, were stabbed to death inside their apartment in Maple Shade in 2017.

    In announcing the charges last month, Burlington County LaChia Bradshaw said Hameed worked at the same company as Hanumantha Rao Narra, and lived near the family in their apartment complex. For weeks before the killings, Bradshaw said, Hameed “stalked” the family and took measures to hide his movements.

    She declined to describe the potential motive for the slayings.

    Local, state, and federal investigators worked the case for nearly a decade, and ultimately connected Hameed to the crime through a single drop of blood they say he left at the crime scene.

    Last year, a sample of Hameed’s DNA was finally obtained when the company Hameed works for shipped his personal laptop to South Jersey. DNA found on the computer matched the blood found at the crime scene in 2017, according to investigators.

  • Pottstown man who shot officer during domestic violence call sentenced to state prison

    Pottstown man who shot officer during domestic violence call sentenced to state prison

    A Pottstown man who shot an officer in the leg with his own firearm during a scuffle last year was sentenced Tuesday to 22½ to 45 years in state prison.

    William Ciccoli Jr., 43, showed little emotion as he learned his fate, shaking his head as Montgomery County Court Judge Thomas DelRicci handed down his sentence.

    The judge told Ciccoli he was shocked by his “lack of remorse and accountability.”

    “We all saw the video, yet you claim the ‘gun went off,’” DelRicci said. “It went off because of the defendant’s actions. No other reason.”

    After the hearing, Ciccoli denied pulling the trigger on Cpl. Anthony Fischer’s sidearm as they grappled inside Ciccoli’s apartment in November 2024.

    “If I disarmed him, my prints would’ve been on that gun,” he said. “I just feel sorry for my family for what has happened, that is all.”

    When pressed, Ciccoli said he feels sorry for Fischer, but insisted that he did not shoot him.

    Ciccoli’s attorney, Frank Genovese, said he wasn’t surprised by the sentence, which he said he would appeal.

    In June, a jury convicted Ciccoli of assault on a law enforcement officer and related crimes, but acquitted him of attempted murder, ruling that he did not intend to kill Fischer when he fired the gun.

    Fischer went to Ciccoli’s home on Chestnut Street to respond to a report of a domestic-violence dispute between him and his girlfriend, prosecutors said. While speaking with the officers, Ciccoli became combative and fought with Fischer.

    During the scuffle, Ciccoli wedged his hand into the holster on Fischer’s hip and pulled the trigger on his department-issued .40-caliber handgun, according to bodycam footage played during Ciccoli’s trial in June. During the video, Fischer yells “he’s going for my gun,” shortly before a single gunshot rings out.

    The shot struck Fischer in his leg, nicking his femoral artery and causing severe injuries that the officer said still prevent him from moving without pain.

    District Attorney Kevin Steele, who prosecuted the case, said Tuesday he appreciated that the judge “recognized the seriousness of the case.”

    “I think it’s very important for everyone to understand that if you try to disarm a police officer, if you shoot at a police officer you’re going to jail for 20 years,” Steele said, adding that Ciccoli’s repeated profession of innocence is “nonsense.”

    “This is a guy that’s not taking accountability for his actions,” Steele said. “We’re here because of his actions.”

  • In Chester County, inmates are getting workforce training and jobs to match post-release

    In Chester County, inmates are getting workforce training and jobs to match post-release

    Tyler Ramaley wakes up every morning grateful that he’s able to do “respectable work in a hardhat” as he clocks in for his shift at JGM, a steel fabrication plant in Coatesville.

    Nineteen months ago, that would have been impossible: He was struggling with an opioid addiction and waking up to a monotonous routine in a Chester County Prison cell.

    A new program offered at the jail, Exit, Enter, Employ, gave him an opportunity to move on from his past mistakes. He had help building his resume, getting certified in his chosen field, and, crucially, landing an interview for a job that was waiting for him after his release.

    “I was in there, and I just didn’t like who I was and I just knew I needed to change,” Ramaley, 37, said in an interview during a break from running a plasma cutter on a recent day. “It gave me a purpose to wake up every day, and it makes me not want to waste the opportunity I’ve been given.”

    Ramaley’s experience, county officials say, is just one of many success stories to come out of the E3 program since its inception in January 2023 through a partnership between the jail and the Chester County Intermediate Unit.

    More than 100 people have graduated from the course, with a recidivism rate of 2%, according to Jill Stoltzfus, the program’s career-readiness coordinator and a CCIU employee.

    “Everybody needs a second chance,” she said. “And I’m very candid with people when I interview them. Like, we’ve all made mistakes, I’m sure I’ve made mistakes that I could be in the same situation.”

    More than 100 inmates at the Chester County Prison have graduate from the E3 program since its inception in January 2023.

    Job-readiness programs are nothing new for county jails — they’re offered almost universally across the region. But Stoltzfus said E3 is different because it provides a direct path, with job openings already lined up for graduating inmates from multiple companies that partner with the county.

    And in the first few months in those jobs, coordinators from the program follow up with former inmates, checking in to see how they are faring.

    “I don’t like the judgment we often hear of ‘Why should we fund this?’ or the idea that some people deserve a chance over others,” Stoltzfus said. “I think it’s crucial that we at least put that opportunity out to them.”

    E3 is available only to inmates who have been sentenced to county jail, meaning their crimes were not serious enough to warrant state prison time. And county officials carefully screen those who apply to the program to make sure they are ready.

    Besides workforce skills like OSHA certification and courses in customer service, E3 offers financial-planning advice, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy and anger management.

    Current partner employers, besides JGM, include J.P. Mascaro & Sons, FASTSIGNS, and MacKissic. Stoltzfus is hoping to expand the offerings to include agricultural and culinary posts.

    Howard Holland, the warden of Chester County Prison, views the program as a way to help incarcerated people prepare to reenter society in a productive way.

    “We’re engaging them in a way other than just ‘Here’s your cot, stay behind the bars,’” he said. “You just have that same cycle over and over and over again because that’s the way our institutions are run.

    “At the end of the day, we’re humans, right?” he added. “They’re here, and it’s our responsibility to, while they’re here, try to do the best we can for them.”

    Tyler Ramaley said he never thought he would be able to go to work, after years of addiction. The E3 program helped him connect with a job he loves.

    Ramaley, who was named JGM’s employee of the month in June, said the opportunity was an important step toward reversing years of bad decisions.

    His drug abuse, he said, began in 2020, when he was injured on the job while running a hammer drill at a concrete mill. The drill skipped and jerked his arm hard, shredding multiple tendons. After several surgeries, he said, he was prescribed Tramadol in bottles of 150 pills at a time. He became reliant on the pills, using them to deal with the pain.

    And when his workers’ comp ran out, he said, his doctor cut him off cold turkey and he turned to other ways to support his opioid habit and purchase drugs, racking up convictions for theft and forgery and landing in county jail.

    His moment of clarity came this spring, he said, and he graduated from E3 in April, weeks before his jail sentence ended and he was released.

    “When I was in my active addiction, I never thought I would be able to go to work and not be on something,” he said, “and there’s times I’ll stand out there and just kind of think about how happy I am here, actually doing hard work and respectable work and doing it the right way.

    “And that’s a better feeling than anything I had when I was in my addiction.”

  • Thirteen years after he abused his infant son, an ex-Bensalem man is charged with the boy’s murder

    Thirteen years after he abused his infant son, an ex-Bensalem man is charged with the boy’s murder

    A former Bensalem resident who spent two years in state prison for abusing his infant son is now charged with the boy’s murder after police say complications from the injuries he inflicted more than a decade ago caused the boy’s death.

    Kyle Hinkle, 38, who now lives in Allentown, was charged Monday with third-degree murder in the death of his son, Leonardo, who was 11 when he died in August 2024.

    After the child’s death was ruled a homicide earlier this year, investigators in Bucks County spent months gathering medical records and other evidence to link it to the injuries he received as an infant.

    Hinkle remained in custody, in lieu of 10% of $2 million bail. There was no indication he had hired an attorney.

    Investigators first learned of the abuse in October 2012, when the boy was taken to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital with severe head injuries, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Hinkle’s arrest.

    Doctors there determined the injuries had been intentionally inflicted to the then-3-month-old, and a CAT scan revealed signs of similar, older injuries that were still healing, the affidavit said.

    The boy’s grandmother told detectives that on an earlier occasion, she had seen bruises on the child’s arm that matched a necklace Hinkle used to wear, indicating he may have struck the boy with it.

    In an interview with detectives, Hinkle admitted he shook the baby vigorously without supporting his head out of frustration because he would not stop crying.

    The injuries left the child wheelchair-bound, nonverbal, and reliant on a feeding tube, according to prosecutors.

    Hinkle pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child in 2013. He served two years in state prison, followed by three years of probation, court records show.

    In the intervening years, the boy and his mother moved to Oliver, Fayette County, southeast of Pittsburgh.

    When the child died in 2024, the Fayette County coroner ruled his death a homicide, saying, in a statement, that complications from living with Shaken Baby Syndrome directly led to his death.

  • A South Jersey woman will spend 8 years in prison for siphoning money from a nonprofit

    A South Jersey woman will spend 8 years in prison for siphoning money from a nonprofit

    The former chief financial officer of a Burlington County nonprofit was sentenced to eight years in state prison for stealing $2.5 million from the company for personal expenses, including settling her credit card debt and buying vacation homes and a Corvette Stingray sports car, officials said Thursday.

    Colleen Witten, 56, of Buena, Atlantic County, pleaded guilty in June to theft, money laundering, and tax evasion for the scheme, which took place during her time as an executive with OTC Services, a company that provides job training for adults with disabilities.

    New Jersey State Attorney General Matthew Platkin said Witten’s prosecution reflects his office’s “unbreakable commitment to pursue justice for victims and hold accountable those who abuse their positions of trust to commit crimes.”

    Witten’s attorney, Brendan Kavanagh, did not immediately return a request for comment.

    Prosecutors said Witten altered corporate board meeting minutes to give herself the authority to open a company bank account, and then used the account to siphon money between May 2019 and March 2024.

    She disguised the theft by laundering the money through checks issued to a landscaping business she owned with her husband, and the couple failed to pay taxes on these funds.

    Witten’s husband, Allan, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of receiving stolen property for accepting money from the nonprofit for work he knew his business did not perform. He was sentenced to three years in state prison.

  • Head of Delco nonprofit traded cash for sexual favors from women in addiction, DA says

    Head of Delco nonprofit traded cash for sexual favors from women in addiction, DA says

    After losing his son to a heroin overdose in 2017, Lawrence Arata devoted his life to helping people in addiction, founded an Upper Darby nonprofit to further that mission, and even ran a failed congressional campaign in which the opioid crisis was his tent-pole cause.

    But behind the scenes, prosecutors in Delaware County said Wednesday, Arata twisted that mission, trading cash, gift cards, and other services from his nonprofit, the Opioid Crisis Action Network, for sexual favors from women who were desperate for help.

    One woman told investigators that she saw the relationship as transactional: “He had what I needed, and I had what he needed,” she said, according to court filings.

    Arata, 65, has been charged with trafficking in individuals and patronizing prostitutes, as well as witness intimidation for trying to coerce some of the women he victimized to recant their statements to police, court records show.

    Arata, of Villas, Cape May County, was freed after posting 10% of $500,000 bail.

    His attorney, Ronald Greenblatt, said Arata had done nothing wrong.

    “The evidence that will come out in court will show his innocence,” he said. “Mr. Arata is a pillar of the community who turned the personal tragedy of losing his son to a drug overdose into a career of helping people.”

    Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, in announcing the charges, said Arata “cynically and cruelly” misused opioid settlement funds to “satisfy his sexual desires.”

    “I want to thank the courageous women in recovery who fell victim to Mr. Arata, as well as those working to help others find their way into recovery, for having the courage to come forward and trust law enforcement to stop this predator,” Stollsteimer said. “We heard you and we support you.”

    Stollsteimer said he believes other people may have been victimized by Arata and urged them to contact his office.

    Investigators learned of Arata’s alleged crimes in August, when a former program director at his nonprofit gave a statement to Upper Darby police, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

    The woman said Arata behaved inappropriately with his clients, kissed, them, touched them, and asked them to stay in hotel rooms with him. Some of the clients left the program because his behavior made them uncomfortable, she said, and she resigned from her position because of similar concerns.

    Detectives later interviewed one of the women Arata had initiated a relationship with. She said that during one encounter in 2024, Arata approached her after a group meeting and said she “looked like she could keep a secret.”

    At the time, the woman said, the weather had started to turn cold and, in need of a coat, she agreed to perform oral sex on Arata inside his car in exchange for gift cards. The woman told police she could not refuse, because she needed the benefits offered by OCAN to survive.

    The woman said she saw Arata again in March, when he was doing outreach on 69th Street in Upper Darby. Hungry and in need of resources, she told police, she approached Arata and again performed oral sex on him inside his car.

    Another woman, who lives in Atlantic City, said she and Arata had a yearslong sexual relationship. Arata met the woman while she was living in a recovery house in Chester, and she told him about her years of addiction and the time she spent as a sex worker in order to survive.

    Arata began trading gift cards and cash for sex with the woman, she told police. Later, when she returned to Atlantic City, she said, Arata continued their relationship.

    The woman said she needed the cash and gift cards to survive, and saw the arrangement as mutually beneficial. Earlier this month, Arata texted her from an unfamiliar phone number, saying police had confiscated his cell phone and urging her not to speak with investigators.

    But Arata didn’t just assault women in recovery, police said. A therapist who worked for his organization said Arata repeatedly told her she was beautiful, asked her to visit his hotel room in Chester, and once kissed her against her will.

    Later, after police had begun to investigate Arata, he pulled the woman aside, accused her of making “false allegations” against him, and demanded she retract her statement, authorities said.

    Other employees of OCAN said they had raised concerns to Arata about his methods, saying the repeated use of gift cards as an incentive to clients felt tantamount to a bribe, the affidavit said. He ignored or dismissed those concerns.

    Arata told The Inquirer in 2017 that the death of his son, Brendan, inspired him to raise awareness on the lack of resources for people in active addiction.

    “Getting very busy on this issue was a way for me to deal with my grief,” Arata said. “This is not a partisan issue. This disease has killed Republicans and Democrats.”

    Arata ran unsuccessfully for Pennsylvania’s Fifth Congressional District seat in 2018 as a Democrat, receiving just 925 votes.

  • Philly man admits to hit-and-run crash that killed a woman in a wheelchair in Lower Merion

    Philly man admits to hit-and-run crash that killed a woman in a wheelchair in Lower Merion

    An East Germantown man admitted he struck and killed a woman in a wheelchair with his car in Lower Merion last year, then fled without helping her or calling police.

    Jamal McCullough, 38, pleaded guilty to accidents involving death for hitting Tracey Carey outside the Taco Bell restaurant on City Avenue in November of last year.

    McCullough entered the plea Tuesday — the day he was expected to go to trial — as Carey’s relatives looked on. The family later expressed frustration at their belief that the man who killed her showed little remorse.

    McCullough will serve three to six years in state prison, the mandatory minimum sentence for the crime to which he pleaded guilty.

    McCullough’s attorney, Michael Parkinson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    McCullough struck Carey, 61, with his Toyota Camry on Nov. 11, 2024, as she attempted to cross the highway in her wheelchair. And while prosecutors noted that McCullough was not at fault in the fatal collision because Carey was crossing outside of a posted crosswalk, they said his actions after the crash constituted a crime.

    Surveillance footage taken from the scene showed that McCullough hit Carey with enough force to send her body into the air and push it several feet away, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

    The collision occurred around 2:14 a.m., as McCullough was on his way to begin his shift as a sanitation worker with Waste Management. Afterward, surveillance cameras recorded him pulling into a nearby parking lot to assess the damage to his vehicle and then walking back to the scene of the crash.

    Investigators said McCullough walked within feet of Carey’s body, but did not stop to help her.

    Another driver who witnessed the crash called 911 and used his vehicle to block traffic and protect Carey, the affidavit said.

    She was later pronounced dead at Lankenau Medical Center.

    Investigators identified McCullough’s vehicle through broken pieces of the vehicle that were left at the scene, as well as the surveillance footage from the area, according to the affidavit

    McCullough’s coworkers told police that in explaining the visible damage to his car, he initially said the vehicle had been hit while it was parked. After his photo was included in news reports about the crash, McCullough told his coworkers he hit a person in a wheelchair and promised to turn himself in.

    When detectives came to interview him at his workplace, McCullough said he wanted to take full responsibility for his actions, the affidavit said, and was making arrangements to surrender his vehicle to police.

  • After eight years, police say they’ve solved the ‘brutal’ killing of a Maple Shade woman and her son

    After eight years, police say they’ve solved the ‘brutal’ killing of a Maple Shade woman and her son

    For eight years, the mystery of who killed a Maple Shade woman and her 6-year-old son swirled in the South Jersey town.

    The bodies of Sasikala Narra, 38, and her son, Anish, were found in their blood-spattered apartment by their husband and father, Hanumantha Rao Narra, in March 2017. They had been stabbed to death.

    In the end, the mystery was unraveled by a single drop of blood, prosecutors said Tuesday as they announced who they believe was the killer.

    Nazeer Hameed, 38, has been charged with murder and related crimes in the double stabbing. Authorities say Hameed fled to his native India after the killings, where he remains today.

    Hameed worked at Cognizant, a North Jersey tech company with an office in Philadelphia, alongside Hanumantha Narra, and lived in the same apartment complex as the family.

    Sasikala Narra, 38, and her son, Anish, 6, were stabbed to death inside their apartment in Maple Shade in 2017.

    Patrick Thornton, the chief investigator for the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, said he could not reveal any information about Hameed’s potential motives. But he said Hameed had stalked the family for some time before the killings and used his background in tech to hide his movements after the fatal stabbings.

    Thornton said Hameed waited until Narra had left the apartment before attacking his family with a series of violent stab and slice wounds to their head and hands. Anish was nearly decapitated in the attack.

    “These innocent victims were defenseless during the horrific attack,” Thornton said. “Veteran officers said this was one of the most brutal crime scenes they’ve seen in their careers, and they are still affected by the memory of it.”

    Hameed’s indictment, according to Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia Bradshaw, was the result of a yearslong investigation that involved local, state, and federal law enforcement.

    And while she said Tuesday that she was pleased to share the news of the charges against Hameed, she stressed that the work for law enforcement was far from over. Hameed is still living in India, and prosecutors in Bradshaw’s office are awaiting assistance from federal authorities to extradite him to New Jersey.

    Prosecutors say Nazeer Hameed stalked the Narra family for some time before killing Sasikala and Anish Narra.

    “We urge the full cooperation of our two nations to send a message that those who commit crimes cannot escape accountability by crossing oceans,” Bradshaw said.

    Hameed was initially considered a person of interest in the case, and later identified as a suspect in 2019, when investigators found a drop of blood at the crime scene that did not belong to the victims.

    South Jersey man battles to collect $1M in life insurance on his slain wife, son

    For the next five years, detectives attempted to compel Hameed to submit a DNA sample, but were unsuccessful. The Indian government agreed to assist in the collection of the specimen, but never acted on that agreement, officials said Tuesday.

    A break in the case came in 2024, when Cognizant, the tech company Narra and Hameed worked for, sent local prosecutors the laptop Hameed used. A sample of his DNA was pulled from the device, and was ruled to be a match to the blood found at the crime scene.

    Authorities continued to investigate in the months that followed and, on Tuesday, publicly announced his involvement in the crime.

    Bradshaw vowed to work with federal authorities and the Indian government to bring Hameed to America to face criminal charges.

    “The passage of time does not lessen our resolve,” she said. “No border can stand in the way of justice, and the people of Burlington County deserve closure.”

    The mother and son were killed in their Fox Meadows Apartment complex in Maple Shade, N.J.

    The Narras immigrated to America from the Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh state, on India’s eastern coast.

    After marrying, they moved to Maple Shade and later enrolled their son in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School. Teachers there called Anish “a beautiful child of God” in speaking to reporters after his slaying.

    Hanumantha Rao Narra could not immediately be reached for comment.

    Through a lawyer, Sasikala Narra’s family in India said Tuesday they were relieved to hear that the killer had been identified.

    “They’re very appreciative of all the work by law enforcement,” Donald F. Browne Jr. said. “It took a very long time, but that’s how justice goes sometimes, and they’re very thankful that everyone kept fighting and kept trying to find the answer to this case.”

  • A Trenton woman was found dead in an abandoned car. Police say her boyfriend killed her.

    A Trenton woman was found dead in an abandoned car. Police say her boyfriend killed her.

    A woman who was found dead inside an abandoned car in Lower Makefield on Sunday had been killed hours earlier by her boyfriend in Trenton, police said Monday.

    Lamont Truitt, of Trenton, has been charged with murder, attempted murder, carjacking, and related crimes in the shooting death of Alyssia Murphy, 32. He is also charged with shooting and wounding a friend of Murphy’s who had been sitting with her in a Toyota Camry that police say he stole after the shooting.

    Truitt, 36, remained in custody Monday, awaiting a detention hearing in Mercer County.

    A passerby found Murphy’s body inside the abandoned Camry early Sunday near an access road to the Delaware Canal, according to police in the Bucks County township. She had been shot multiple times.

    Trenton police say the shooting happened just before 6 a.m. on Coolidge Avenue near Oakland Street in the capital city.

    Murphy’s friend, whom police did not identify, said she was sitting in the car with Murphy when Truitt approached them. The couple began to argue, she said, and in the heat of their dispute, Truitt pulled out a handgun and fired multiple times at Murphy at close range.

    The woman, who was shot in the leg, said she jumped out of the car and ran before Truitt sped off. She was treated at Capital Health Regional Medical Center.

    A family friend who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation described Murphy as a kind, generous person who had long dreamed of starting a family and “certainly did not deserve to go like that.”