Woman's death in 2005 investigated in Weston abuse case

Philadelphia police are investigating the 2005 death of a 59-year-old woman who lived with accused serial abuser and convicted murderer Linda Ann Weston.

Detectives following the trail left by Weston, 51, and her boyfriend, Gregory Thomas, on Wednesday visited a home on Glenview Street in Northeast Philadelphia, according to a resident of the building. Thomas, 47, once listed an address at that location.

Derrick Middleton, who has rented the home since 2008, on Wednesday said detectives photographed the basement and garage. Police told him they were investigating the death of a woman who died in the basement in 2005.

"They asked me if I knew any of the Weston people," said Middleton's wife, who did not want to be named. "They searched the basement. . . . They said some lady passed away here."

A relative of Linda Weston's recalled visiting Weston at the Northeast Philadelphia home and seeing an older white woman wandering on the front-yard grass.

"She had a scared look on her face, with her eyes wide and her arms folded," the relative said of the woman.

Weston came to the door and yelled at the woman to get back inside, the relative said.

The woman had disappeared when Weston let the relative inside a few moments later. "But I heard stuff rumbling around in the basement," the relative said.

Weston said the woman was "messed up," the relative said.

The relative said Jean McIntosh, Linda Weston's daughter, sometimes drove the woman around. "When I asked her what happened to the woman, she said, 'That lady, she died.' "

Detectives have also spoken with the brother of a woman who died on June 26, 2005. That relative declined to comment Wednesday.

Philadelphia Lt. Ray Evers would not confirm details of the investigation or comment on the woman's cause of death.

Evers said detectives are looking at numerous cases that may involve Weston, a convicted murderer who was arrested Oct. 15 on charges of keeping four mentally disabled adults, one of them chained to a boiler, locked in a basement "dungeon." Police believe that Weston was stealing Social Security checks and that she may have victimized dozens of others.

Detectives "are putting a timeline together of who was in Weston's care over the years," Evers said. "Weston took care of several people over several years, and they're trying to determine who all of those people were."

Also charged in the case are Eddie Wright, 50, a street preacher who allegedly helped Weston keep the victims trapped in the basement; and Weston's 32-year-old daughter, Jean McIntosh.

Police say Weston has spent much of her life engaging in violence, deception, and theft.

She was convicted in 1984 of starving to death her sister's boyfriend in a closet in their North Philadelphia apartment. Her siblings and relatives have spoken openly about enduring repeated and severe abuse at her hands.

Authorities know of at least one other person who died under Weston's care: Maxine Lee, a 39-year-old woman from Philadelphia who ended up living with Weston in Norfolk, Va.

Lee died in November 2008. A medical examiner attributed her death to meningitis, but police in Norfolk say they are reviewing the case in light of Weston's arrest.

Detectives this week visited the house on Glenview Street, where rows of homes sit up on modest front lawns. The basement has a tile floor, a window, and peeling wallpaper. A small door under the stairs presumably leads to storage space but was sealed shut.

Neighbors recalled little about the group that had lived in the house. A neighbor across the street named Joan, who did not want to give her last name, remembered that a woman moved into the house at first, followed by a man. Eventually the building housed at least five children, she said, ranging in age from 10 or 11 to teenagers.

"We were saying, 'How many people they have living there?' " she said.

Another neighbor said the former tenants didn't come outside much.

Weston's attorney, George Yacoubian, said Wednesday he would seek a competency assessment for his client.

Weston was initially deemed incompetent for her trial in the 1981 killing and served only about four years in prison. At the time, her lawyer said she was mentally retarded and suffered from epilepsy and other disorders.

"She has a long history of psychiatric illness, including schizophrenia," Yacoubian said Wednesday.

Prosecutors this week also filed a motion to impose a gag order in the case, saying that the overwhelming level of media attention has interfered with the Police Department's ability to investigate.

The motion asks that defense lawyers, prosecutors, and potential witnesses be barred from speaking about the case, except in accordance with state Supreme Court rules of professional conduct. The matter will be decided in a Nov. 2 hearing.

"The victims, held by the defendant and her codefendants as virtual slaves for their government benefits, suffered physical and sexual assaults over a period of years while the defendant used their meager government stipend to support her lifestyle and that of her biological children," the motion states.

"In the wake of the police department's discovery of these victims, media coverage of the plight of the victims has been staggering and, at times, has substantially hindered the ability of the authorities to conduct a thorough and fair investigation."

In listing the reasons for a gag order, the motion cites members of the media who interviewed the four adult victims last week in the facility where they were held in protective custody.

The motion also mentions that one local media outlet, "under questionable circumstances," procured identification belonging to one of the defendants in the case and published it. This week, police said they were investigating how Fox 29 came to have identification badges belonging to McIntosh.

It also states that "an as yet unidentified individual, disguised as a hospital employee, attempted to gain access to the room of one of the victims" at a local hospital.

Critical police time and resources have been diverted from the task of investigating the case to handle those situations, the motion said.