Man charged with fatally stabbing mother, daughter in Northeast Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A man accused of stabbing two women to death in the basement of a Northeast Philadelphia home is now charged with murder and other offenses.
On Thursday, May 23, police identified the double homicide suspect as 43-year-old Leandro Barberena, of Philadelphia.
The two victims, identified Wednesday as 75-year-old Angela Trejo and 58-year-old Alma Barberena, were found in a home on the 6000 block of Bingham Street on May 21. Both women, who police said were a mother and daughter, had multiple stab wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene.
During a press conference Thursday, Philadelphia homicide unit Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom said Leandro Barberena was Alma Barberena's husband, and was the person who called 911 to report the deaths.
Police said Leandro told officers that he found the two women in the basement covered in blood.
Ransom said Alma had gone to her mother's house earlier in the day to help with a telemedicine appointment, and investigators believe at some point, Leandro showed up at the house.
According to police, Alma Barberena had defensive wounds and Leandro had cuts to his hands, which he told investigators happened while moving tile.
Investigators located a bloody glove at the scene of the murders and found the matching glove after executing a search warrant on Leandro's car, police said.
Ransom said there was no history of domestic violence reports for the Barberena residence and at this time, no clear motive for the killings.
"We don't understand the case here," he said.
Jack Burkhart, who lived near the victims, told CBS News Philadelphia that Trejo and Barberena were "just very nice people," and that he spoke with the Trejo a day before she was killed.
"Just to say hello," he said. "She had asked how my wife was doing, and [it's] just hard to believe because they were really nice neighbors."
