Police Announce Arrest In Murder Of Recent Drexel Grad
By Steve Patterson and Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia Police say a man who had been hired and fired for maintenance work at a West Philadelphia apartment building in which the victim lived, has now been charged in last week's murder of a recent Drexel grad.
Homicide Captain James Clark says the handyman, 56-year old James Harris, faces murder, rape, robbery, burglary and other charges.
"Harris, who was terminated a week prior to this murder, and was banned from the building by management," says Clarke. "He was seen entering the building 30-minutes before Jasmine came home."
Clark says 27-year old Jasmine Wright was on the bed in her third floor unit, on 50th Street, near Locust, on the phone with her mother, when the attack happened.
"We know that because the mother hears a struggle, and the phone goes dead."
Clark says investigators found evidence to link Harris to Wright's murder.
"The crime scene unit and the chem. lab did a phenomenal job of gathering prints and DNA from the scene, and matching those prints and the DNA to our killer."
Listen to the full news conference here...
Police believe Harris retained keys to get into the building, and while they are not sure how he got into the apartment, he may have copied or stolen keys. There were no signs of forced entry.
Police describe Harris as a "career criminal,' with 31-prior arrests, including the 1982 murder of his father, and several sexual assaults, robberies and burglaries.
In Clark's words, "He's a monster, and we're very happy to get him off the streets."
