Suspect in carjacking that killed 4 is ordered to stand trial

THE 45-YEAR-OLD real-estate agent was calm but tense in court yesterday as she recounted the harrowing events of July 25 that changed her life.

The woman, whose first language is Cantonese, spoke of being carjacked, sexually assaulted by two men, being knocked unconscious when her car crashed - and learning in the hospital that the collision had killed three siblings and mortally wounded their mother.

It all began just after 11 a.m. when she parked her SUV on 6th Street near Cumberland in North Philadelphia, where she had planned to show a home to a potential buyer.

But before she could get out of the car, the woman said, a man tapped on the window and got into the front passenger seat. She identified that man as Cornelius Crawford, 24, who kept his eyes fixed on the table in front of him during the preliminary hearing.

Another man, she said, got into the back seat. Police have identified him Jonathan Rosa, 19, who waived his right to a preliminary hearing in August.

Municipal Judge Patrick Dugan ordered Crawford held for trial on the same charges that Rosa is facing: four counts of second-degree murder, sexual assault, robbery and numerous related counts. Both would receive mandatory state-prison sentences of life without parole if convicted.

The real-estate agent said that Crawford, who was holding a gun partially covered by a cloth, told her to drive and punched her in the head five times for driving too slowly.

" 'Do what I say. Do you want to live or do you want to die?' " the woman recalled Crawford warning her.

Rosa riffled through her purse and bag before Crawford ordered her to park in front of an abandoned house, she said.

Crawford forced her to get into the back seat with him, where he sexually assaulted her while Rosa drove, she said.

Crawford and Rosa then switched places and Rosa sexually assaulted her, the woman said.

After Crawford got back behind the wheel, he started driving "crazy," lost control of the SUV and crashed, said the woman, who suffered fractured ribs, a broken shoulder and facial bruises.

She lost consciousness and did not learn on that day that the crash had killed siblings Keiearra Williams, 15; Thomas Reed, 10; and Terrance Moore, 6. Their mother, Keisha Williams, 34, died from her injuries two weeks later.

The family was standing in a vacant lot at Germantown and Allegheny avenues selling fruit to raise money to turn the lot into a playground when the out-of-control SUV barreled into them.

Terrance Moore Sr. said his son would have turned 7 on Oct. 29. After leaving the courtroom, he said of Crawford and Rosa: "I don't think they should have no years or no life. I want the death penalty for them for the pain and suffering I have to go through."

Assistant District Attorney Brendan O'Malley told Dugan that Crawford's fingerprints had been recovered from the carjacked SUV and that his blood was recovered from a white T-shirt that had been discarded near the crash scene.

Rosa has said that he will cooperate with prosecutors, but his help is not needed, O'Malley said.

"You heard the evidence at the preliminary hearing. It's overwhelming as to both defendants," O'Malley told reporters.

Crawford's attorney, C.P. Mirarchi III, said he was hoping for a plea bargain that would result in his client receiving less than a life sentence - but wasn't counting on it.

"This is what they call, in the vernacular, a slam dunk," he said.