The recent death toll in Lawncrest grew last Thursday. In fact, the tally doubled as intruders executed three men inside a twin home on Martins Mill Road, according to police.
The victims included 25-year-old Keurlin Charles and two other men whose identities police have not released publicly. Officers from the 2nd district went to the house on Martins Mill near Oxford Avenue shortly after 3 p.m. in response to a report of a person screaming. The cops found two victims on the first floor and another on the second floor. All had been shot in the head. Two of them had been bound with duct tape.
Officially, the police department has released no information about possible suspects or motives for the slayings. But on Friday, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that investigators suspect the episode may have been drug-related. The paper cited information from Capt. James Clark, commander of the police Homicide Unit.
Clark said further that detectives are looking into possible ties between the Martins Mill case and a double murder that occurred on Jan. 19 about a mile away. Donna Muller, 49, and her son, Richard Muller, 22, of the 300 block of Stevens St., died when someone entered their home and shot them each in the back of the head.
Police have made no arrests and named no suspects in the Jan. 19 case. A sixth slaying occurred nearby on Jan. 24 when someone shot Linden Henry, 32, of Willow Grove, as he sat in the driver’s seat of a white Cadillac that was parked on the 5700 block of Weymouth St.
Regarding last week’s triple murder, police have said there were no signs of forced entry, although parts of the house had been ransacked, as if the killers were searching for something. Charles reportedly lived there with relatives. City property records show that Marie Charles bought the house in 2001.
Clark reportedly said on Friday that Keurlin Charles was found in an upstairs bedroom with his his hands and feet bound by duct tape. Another victim was found in a similar position downstairs. The third victim, also found on the first floor, was not bound and may have arrived at the house after the intruders.
Clark reportedly said that there are similarities in the methods used by the killers in the Jan. 19 and Feb. 13 cases. Police have not said what if any property had been stolen from the house. ••
