Body parts found in North Philadelphia lot

Police scoured an overgrown lot in North Philadelphia on Friday and found the dismembered remains of a male prostitute they say was killed by an angry partner.

Crime-scene officers and personnel from the Medical Examiner's Office carefully searched through five-foot-high grass to retrieve scattered body parts at York Street and Sedgley Avenue. SEPTA trains sped past as investigators hefted evidence bags.

Charles Nolan Sargeant, whose address was not immediately available, was charged Saturday, police said.

About 10:40 p.m. Wednesday, 22d District officers responded to a call of a burglary in progress in the 2100 block of North 32d Street. They were met on the sidewalk by the son of the woman who owns the house.

The man, in his 20s, told police he had found blood on the walls of the second-floor hallway.

Police entered but saw no blood and no signs of forced entry or burglary. Police did not check the basement because it held two pit bulls.

Officers told the man that the property was secure and resumed their patrol.

About an hour later, the officers were called to the same address - this time for a report of a person screaming - and were met by the same man.

He said that within the last hour, he had seen his mother's boyfriend, Sargeant, carrying trash bags full of bloody sheets. Officers checked the trash and found bloodstained sheets and tarps.

They removed the dogs and entered the basement, which was heavy with the odor of bleach, police said. The officers found a trash bag stuffed with bloody towels, gloves, and a hazardous-materials suit. They called detectives to the scene.

Investigators from Central Detectives' Three Squad contacted the homeowner, who works at a suburban senior citizens home. She told them her boyfriend, Sargeant, sometimes brought people home to share drugs and sex. On Saturday night, she said, he phoned and told her, "Don't come home tonight."

She did return, to find him naked on the second floor with blood on his leg. Sargeant told her she was so nosy, police said, that she should look in the bedroom. She saw a naked dead man wrapped in a tarp, and a condom on the floor, police said.

The homeowner, police said, then went downstairs to lie on a couch and went to sleep. During the next few hours, while pretending to sleep, the woman saw Sargeant drag the body through the house and into the cellar. On Monday, Sargeant got an ax, and she heard chopping sounds from the basement, police said.

That day, the two went to a store in the 2900 block of Ridge Avenue, where they were spotted on security video as they bought cleaning products. After dropping off their purchases, they went to a cookout, police said.

On Wednesday, Sargeant began cleaning the house and getting rid of the body, police said. That morning, they tracked him to the 3900 block of North Franklin Street, where he was arrested.

Police sources said Sargeant had confessed, telling authorities he brought home a prostitute, had oral sex, and became enraged when he realized his partner was a man. Sargeant told authorities where to find the body parts, police said.

Sargeant has nine previous arrests, including two for rape, and has been convicted of aggravated assault, weapons charges, and escape.

One neighbor described Sargeant as a tall, fit, outgoing man who was often outside late at night, talking and joking with friends. On Tuesday, one of the family's pit bulls got out and was barking, so she went to the house and asked the owner to get the dog - and nothing seemed amiss.

"All she had to do was tell me to call the police and I would have," said the neighbor, who asked not be named. "I can't wrap my head around it."