Son Charged With Killing Father After Email Hack

A man convicted of hacking into his father's email account to seek evidence of an affair has been charged in his death just outside the city after a nearly four-year investigation.
 
Parth Ingle was arrested Wednesday at his Pottstown home and was charged with killing Arunkumar Ingle, a 55-year-old Boeing engineer, at the family home in Middletown Township, Delaware County. The father was stabbed and bludgeoned to death in January 2008.
 
Early in the murder investigation, prosecutors charged Parth Ingle, 25, and his sister, Avnee Ingle, 28, with illegally spying on their father by hacking into his emails and putting a stealth GPS device on his vehicle. Prosecutors say the children, who worked with their mother, Bhavnaben Ingle, at a 7-Eleven convenience store she ran, learned from the emails that their father had been having an affair with a Philadelphia woman since 2003.
 
Avnee Ingle was acquitted of the charges in October.
 
Parth Ingle was convicted of illegally accessing his father's email account, a third-degree felony, and was sentenced to two years of probation. He was arraigned on the murder charge Wednesday and is being held without bail until a Jan. 4 preliminary hearing.
 
A defense lawyer said police have no new evidence in the case.
 
``They had everything within six months of the homicide,'' said John Kusturiss Jr., who also represented Parth Ingle in the spying case. ``I guess they figure they'll throw the mud up against the wall and see what happens.''
 
The children told police in interviews soon after their father's killing that they knew _ through emails, pictures and confrontations with him _ that he was having an affair, according to an earlier state police affidavit.
 
Avnee Ingle told police they sought the emails to learn when their father was going to see his mistress and if he was giving her money, according to the affidavit. The parents were preparing to separate or divorce, she told them, authorities said.
 
Parth Ingle said he installed spyware to make copies of all his father's email correspondence and demonstrated the process for police, the affidavit said.
 
Bhavnaben Ingle discovered her husband's body when she and her daughter stopped at the house on the way to the store.