Teen girl charged in Bucks musician's killing

A Morrisville teen was charged Tuesday with the murder of Bristol Township musician Danny DeGennaro, and authorities are pursuing three of her four suspected coconspirators in the botched robbery.

A tip from a neighbor of the well-known guitar player and songwriter, who performed with Kingfish and other big-name rock and rhythm-and-blues musicians, helped police identify the murder suspects, Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said.

"We know who you are, and we are coming," Heckler said about the three suspected coconspirators, following the arraignment for Danasia Ameena Bakr, 17, of Plaza Boulevard. Bakr, who will turn 18 next month, will be tried as an adult.

The fourth suspected coconspirator is in custody on unrelated charges, Heckler said. He declined to name any of the suspects, including the man who shot DeGennaro once in the chest with a shotgun Dec. 28.

The suspects targeted DeGennaro's house on Crabtree Drive in Levittown as a place where they could "get money," authorities said, based on information from Bakr.

Authorities could not say whether the suspects knew DeGennaro or had been to the house before that night.

To draw DeGennaro out of his house and rob him, one of the suspects called the phone number on a "for sale" sign on a 2007 black Volkswagen Jetta parked in his back yard, Assistant District Attorney Matt Weintraub said.

But the car and the cellphone number belonged to a neighbor, Nick Wilson, who after the murder told police about the suspicious call, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

According to the affidavit and authorities:

The suspects drove two cars from Trenton and called Wilson and each other while in DeGennaro's neighborhood. Cellphone records led police to two suspects and then to Bakr, who waited in her 2002 green Lincoln while her co-conspirators entered DeGennaro's house.

Bakr, who admitted her role in the plot, heard a loud gunshot and then a second shot. Two of her co-conspirators got into her car and took off gloves. One of the men said he "had to do it."

Police found DeGennaro, 56, unresponsive in his foyer. He was pronounced dead at St. Mary Medical Center.

At her arraignment before District Justice Robert Wagner Jr., Bakr pleaded not guilty to criminal conspiracy to commit homicide, robbery, and burglary, and possession of the shotgun and handgun. Those charges include commission of the principal offenses, Heckler said, including first-degree murder.

Bakr was not eligible for bail because of the murder charge. The judge ordered her taken to county prison until her March 20 preliminary hearing.

After the arraignment, Linda DeGennaro said she couldn't believe her brother was gone.

"This is all a shock to me," she said. "It's so senseless. He was getting his life back together. He didn't deserve this."

His daughter, Gia DeGennaro, 27, a teacher in the Council Rock School District, declined to comment.

Her father was known for his dazzling guitar skills and soulful songs. He was a star on the local music scene, forming a band with Hooters' founder Dave Uosikkinen.