Rian Thal, left, was gunned down shortly after these surveillance videos were taken inside the Piazza at Schmidt's.
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Woman charged in execution-style slayings
Police arrested a woman yesterday who they say helped plan the execution-style killings of Rian Thal and Timothy Gilmore and let the three shooters into Thal's apartment building last Saturday.
They identified the woman as Katoya Jones, 25, who lives in the same building where Thal had an apartment at the Piazza at Schmidts in Northern Liberties. Although Jones was not one of the three people who fired on Thal and Gilmore, police said she played a significant role in their murders.
Thal, 34, a popular local party planner, and Gilmore, 40, of Ohio, were ambushed by the three gunmen in the hallway outside Thal's apartment in the complex's Navona building. Police believe Thal and Gilmore were targeted because they were involved in dealing drugs.
Last night, a source close to the investigation said a male friend of Jones' set up the hit. The source said that man is a major player in the area's drug underworld.
Police previously said that Gilmore had used his trucking business as a drug front. Investigators said they found four kilograms of cocaine and more than $100,000 in Thal's apartment.
Jones was charged with murder, conspiracy, attempted robbery and burglary, criminal trespass, and possession of an instrument of crime.
Police said she was captured by surveillance cameras letting one of the shooters into the building, allowing him to follow her into the lobby. Both got into an elevator and got off at the second floor, then went separate ways. The man returned to the lobby, perched on a piece of furniture, and then let in two more men a few moments later.
Within moments, those three men had positioned themselves in the stairwells around Thal's apartment.
A fourth man, whose entrance to the building was not shown on the surveillance videos, acted as lookout on a lower floor and alerted the others when Thal and Gilmore returned to the building.
Police believe Thal did not know Jones, who has no criminal record. Jones knew the shooters "in some fashion," said Police Sgt. Ray Evers.
Investigators did not know Jones was involved when they released the surveillance footage taken from inside the apartment building on the day of the shootings, Evers said. He would not comment on what led the police to Jones.
Police have said the killings may have begun as a robbery that went wrong quickly. But after Thal and Gilmore were gunned down, the shooters left without taking anything or trying to get into Thal's apartment.
Police are still searching for those men, some of whom left ample fingerprints inside the apartment building.
Additionally, police are searching for information about a man who was inside Thal's apartment when the shootings took place. That man, believed to be an associate of Gilmore's, waited a few minutes and then left the apartment. He was seen on security cameras carrying a large duffel bag, but investigators do not know what was inside.
Thal lived on the top floor of the sleek, seven-story Navona, which is lined with terraces and glass balconies. Situated in the midst of one of the city's trendiest neighborhoods, the vast courtyard in the middle of the Piazza is surrounded by shops, galleries and restaurants.
Lloyd Emelle, 24, who moved into his apartment in the Navona on Wednesday, said he was glad to hear of the arrest, but said the shooting did not make him concerned about the building.
"This was an isolated incident," he said. "The type of things she was doing, it doesn't matter where you are, it happens."
The small memorial to Thal that had been placed at the corner of the building was gone yesterday. There is now a 24-hour security guard at the front desk, which some tenants said they were pleased to see.
Contact staff writer Allison Steele at 215-854-2641 or asteele@phillynews.com.
