Police: Man killed 87-year-old woman to keep family from testifying against him
Cops: Suspect in sex crimes killed South Whitehall woman, 87.
Hours before the start of his trial on sex assault charges June 10, DaJuan A. Porter went to the Harrisburg area homes of two of his three victims to try to keep them from testifying against him, authorities said.
Porter, 29, of Harrisburg first went to a Derry Township home around 3 a.m., police said.
Joyce J. Roth, 87, of South Whitehall Township was staying there with her son and daughter-in-law, Barry and Patricia Roth, to celebrate her great-granddaughter’s graduation from high school, police said.At some point in the night, Roth encountered Porter in the Byron Road home and he stabbed her once in the chest, Derry police said Tuesday in announcing first-degree murder charges against Porter. Roth was rushed to the hospital, but died shortly after.
Police said Roth was related to one of the victims in Porter’s sex assault case and that person was probably the intended target.
After killing Roth, Porter went to the Lower Paxton Township home of a second sex assault victim and set fire to his home, police said. No one was hurt in the fire.
In the sex assault cases, Porter allegedly tried to perform oral sex on sleeping or unconscious men.
A day after the killing, Porter was arrested and charged in two more sexual assaults and sent to Dauphin County Prison under $1 million bail.
Porter killed Roth in “an attempt to thwart the prosecution of three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, three counts of sexual assault, and burglary,” Derry police said.
News of Roth’s death stunned neighbors in her Brickyard Road neighborhood. They described her as a small woman who was in good health. They said she was religious and never raised her voice or used foul language.
Court records show Porter was awaiting trial on burglary and sex assault charges in Harrisburg, and was free under a recognizance bond in October.
Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico Jr. said at a news conference Tuesday that the killing was a “direct result” of the pending sex assault and burglary charges against Porter.
Porter, who had worked as a disc jockey in the Harrisburg area, was arrested last August on burglary and sex assault charges. He allegedly performed oral sex on three unsuspecting men between May 2011 and July 2012. In one case, Porter allegedly broke into the man’s apartment from a fire escape.
Besides first-degree murder, Porter is charged with burglary, arson and two counts each of retaliation against a witness and intimidation of a witness in Roth’s death and the Lower Paxton arson.
He was charged June 11 with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of an unconscious person, attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of an unconscious person and two counts of indecent assault of an unconscious person.
Article Source: http://articles.mcall.com/2013-06-19/news/mc-d-south-whitehall-woman-murdered-in-hershey-20130618_1_porter-counts
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