Drugs crashed into their world

Robert Matunda and Maren

Reese seemed to be in the middle of building a solid future for themselves and their infant son.

They were jewelry designers who lived together in a stylish, renovated former auto-repair shop - called Buckley's Garage - on Reed Street near 6th in South Philadelphia.

They planned to attend a trade show soon in Chicago, said Sgt. James Schrack, of the South Detective Division.

They had a 6-month-old son who on Monday night was staying with a grandmother when the parents ran afoul of the booming drug business in the Universal Community Homes area of South Philly.

Cops said two women were selling drugs near 12th and Fitzwater streets when cops approached their Oldsmobile about 9 p.m. and tried to question them. They sped off, crashing their car into a Honda Element a few blocks away driven by Matunda, 30, who was killed. Reese, 26, was hospitalized.

Capt. James Kelly, of the Narcotics Strike Force, said narcotics officers had been sent to patrol the area after complaints from Councilman Frank DiCicco.

This was confirmed by DiCicco, who said drug trafficking has been increasing in the area and is getting as bad as it was during the days before Martin Luther King Towers, a high-rise public-housing development, was imploded in 1999.

DiCicco said the drug situation has gotten so bad that he and the police have earmarked four intersections for installation of surveillance cameras.

It's a relatively small area, bounded by Broad, 12th, Catharine and Bainbridge streets.

Monday night, police said, the women sold drugs near 12th and Fitzwater.

The women then moved to 9th and Christian and uniformed officers walked up to their gray Oldsmobile Aurora.

The driver sped off and ran a red light. Then cops said they heard a loud boom followed by a big puff of smoke.

Cops raced to 7th and Christian and found the Oldsmobile smashed into the Element - a boxy SUV. Inside the smoldering truck were Matunda and Reese, police said.

Reese was admitted to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in stable condition, police said.

The driver of the Oldsmobile - Nafeesah Riddick, 22, of Ellsworth Street near 13th - was treated at Jefferson and arrested. She was charged with murder, homicide by vehicle, drug possession and related crimes.

Her passenger was admitted to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. She was charged with drug possession and criminal conspiracy.

"My heart goes out to the family," Kelly said. "Someone got killed by a terrible, conscious decision by someone else involved in narcotics."

Kelly said the area where the cops watched the women do their deal is a subject of "constant complaint."

Police said other hot drug pockets in the otherwise tame 3rd Police District - Society Hill, Queen Village, and Bella Vista - include 5th and Carpenter streets, 13th and Bainbridge streets and 10th and Randolph streets.

Staff writer David Gambacorta contributed to this report.