Philadelphia

Police Seek Possible Serial Predator in Connection with Violent Killing of Naked Woman in Kensington

A serial predator is on the loose in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood, and police on Tuesday said he may be to blame for the violent killing of a woman found naked and stabbed to death on a street corner over the weekend.

Police confirmed Tuesday afternoon that they're looking for a man captured by surveillance cameras traveling on a bike in the neighborhood in connection with non-fatal attacks on at least two women in Kensington. Investigators said they have reason to believe the man might also be responsible for killing a 35-year-old woman in Kensington late Saturday night by beating her with a brick and stabbing her in the neck.

Police said both women in the non-fatal attacks and the woman killed Saturday night were working as prostitutes in the neighborhood at the time they were attacked. Kensington has long been a hotbed for prostitution, drug use and sales and crime.

In Saturday night's killing, police said the victim was in a rear alley behind Cumberland Street near Jasper shortly after 11 p.m. when she was beaten and stabbed. She managed to stumble about a block, screaming for help, before collapsing near Jasper and Letterly streets, where she died.

"She was bloody from head to toe," Police Capt. Robert Ritchie said the night of the killing. Police described a gruesome scene indicating the level of violence inflicted on the woman, with a blood trail stretching for a city block.

Police are investigating after a naked woman was found dead on a Kensington street corner overnight. Police say the woman was stabbed in an alley, and then ran around to the corner of Jasper and Letterly streets, where she collapsed.

Police described the suspected killer as a man in his 30s or 40s who has a full mustache and beard. They said he rode a black and blue bicycle and matches the description of the man wanted in the two violent non-fatal attacks on women.

Kensington served as the backdrop to the infamous "Kensington Strangler" killings in 2010, when Antonio Rodriguez went on a serial killing spree, raping and murdering at least three women in the neighborhood in a two-month span 2010. Rodriguez is serving life in prison.

Tipsters should contact police at 215-686-3334 or text a tip to PPD TIP (773 847).

Contact Us