Philadelphia man charged with murdering girlfriend, unborn child in Elkins Park

The 12-year-old girl awoke just before 3 a.m. to the sound of her mother screaming.

Then, in those early hours of Feb. 19, the girl walked into the bedroom of her pregnant mother, Eboney White, and watched White's boyfriend, Tristian Jones, stab White to death, according to charging documents released Tuesday.

The girl yelled at Jones, trying to persuade him to stop hurting her mom. But it was in vain. Knife in hand, Jones allegedly lunged at the girl. So she ran to the bathroom of the Elkins Park apartment, locked herself inside, and dialed 911.

Jones, 35, of Philadelphia, was charged Monday with the slaying of the 31-year-old White and the couple's unborn child, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said. Jones told authorities he had kept White's pregnancy a secret from his family, including his wife.

"I committed a sin. And I can't let the kids think that part was okay," Jones had written in a text message, according to the charging documents.

"Domestic violence and intimate partner violence like this senseless killing are all too often a hidden crime until it's too late and police arrive to investigate a murder," District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said in a statement.

Cheltenham Township police responded to the apartment on Mather Way around 3:20 a.m. They found White, who was 7 ½ months pregnant, dead in her bedroom with multiple stab wounds. An autopsy said the cause of death for White and the male fetus was homicide.

Besides the 12-year-old girl, White's 7-year-old daughter was also in the apartment at the time, authorities said.

Cheltenham police and Montgomery County detectives launched a joint investigation into the killing.

In an interview, Jones told them that earlier that day he and White had discussed introducing their children to each other, and in text messages, the couple talked about how to talk about the pregnancy with the children.

"Yes it's best to introduce you to kids … but I do have to accept that it does highlight the sin I made," Jones wrote in text messages, according to charging documents.

After sending those texts, Jones was captured on surveillance footage buying an Imusa paring knife and cutting board from a Burlington store in Wyncote. From there, he walked to a nearby Wendy's, where he was also seen on security cameras, and then went to White's apartment, authorities said.

White's 12-year-old daughter told police she woke up around 2 a.m. and saw a man whom she recognized as her mom's boyfriend — "Mr. Tristian" — in the apartment. At first, she didn't think much of it, the girl told police, as Jones often visited White in the early morning. About 45 minutes later, she awoke again to screaming.

Jones was charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and murder of an unborn child. He is being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility without bail,  awaiting a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 29.

No attorney for Jones was listed on court documents as of Tuesday morning.