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Suspect in Bensalem slaying to be tried in county court

William Table is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, Teresa Priestly, in July.

Police are looking for William Table in the fatal stabbing of Theresa Presley in Bensalem.
Police are looking for William Table in the fatal stabbing of Theresa Presley in Bensalem.Read moreBensalem Police Department

A man accused of killing his estranged girlfriend during a violent domestic dispute in July has had his case transferred to Bucks County Court.

William Table, 45, had a preliminary hearing Wednesday on criminal homicide, kidnapping, and other charges in District Court in Bensalem. He is scheduled to appear for a formal arraignment at the higher court on Sept. 14.

Investigators say Table fatally stabbed Teresa Priestly, 43, on July 9 after he went to her apartment in the township. After an hours-long search, Table was arrested at a homeless camp in Philadelphia, where he allegedly had stabbed someone else, according to police.

Priestly, a single mother of two, had been dating Table for a few years before the incident, friends of the couple told the Inquirer in July.

In an affidavit of probable cause filed in District Court, detectives describe the frantic moments leading up to Priestly's death. Just before 7 a.m., Priestly called 911, screaming "Help me. He is killing me, my boyfriend, he is stabbing me."

Three minutes later, police received a second call: A Kia sedan had jumped a curb on Hulmeville Road near Street Road. Witnesses had seen a passenger exit the vehicle, and found Priestly inside, unconscious and bleeding, according to the affidavit.

Priestly was pronounced dead, and detectives later determined that the car was registered to her.

Investigators said Table went to Priestley's unit in the Village Square Apartments and got into an argument with her. During the dispute, she tried to drive away, but Table smashed the passenger window of her car and climbed inside, they said.

During the course of their investigation, police interviewed one of Priestley's co-workers, who said Priestly had recently broken up with "Will," according to the affidavit. Another call to Priestley's daughter revealed that Table and Priestley had broken up because "Table had a drug problem and had been violent at times." Priestly had recently asked the apartment's management company to change the locks to their unit.

Surveillance footage from nearby traffic cameras recorded Table's SUV pulling into the Village Square Apartments, and later captured a man believed to be Table fleeing from the scene of her death.