Was Wissinoming boy, 12, slain trying to protect mom?
The boy and his mother were found slain under a burning mattress and cops are now looking for his mom's boyfriend.
POLICE AREN'T sure why 12-year-old Elijah Rosado was stabbed to death, but one theory is that he gave his life protecting the woman who gave him his.
Rosado and his mother, Atlanta Deveney, 35, were found dead under a burning mattress at their Wissinoming apartment Saturday morning, and now police are calling Deveney's boyfriend a person of interest in the case.
Homicide Capt. James Clark said Deveney's boyfriend, Carlos Rivera, 25, is 6 feet, 170 pounds and is known to frequent D and Clearfield streets in Kensington, and Bridge and Large streets in Frankford. He was still at large last night.
Deveney, Rosado and Rivera had just moved into their apartment on Howell Street near Torresdale Avenue three days before officials were called to the residence about 8:50 a.m., Clark said.
Firefighters discovered the bodies under a mattress in a closet of the first-floor apartment after they extinguished the blaze.
An autopsy later revealed that Deveney had been choked and beaten to death, and Rosado had been stabbed multiple times in his chest and neck.
"One theory is that [Rivera] was physically assaulting the mother and that the son tried to come to her aid," Clark said. "With that, [Rivera] pulled out a knife and violently stabbed and killed the little boy."
Police said they learned that Rivera had been preventing neighbors from going into the apartment to put out the fire.
"He was telling them 'Don't go inside. I'll take care of it,' " Clark said. "But he never did."
Clark said although Rivera and Deveney had a "longtime abusive relationship," she did not have a protection-from-abuse order against him.
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