Posted on Wed, Nov. 11, 2009
By Joseph A. Slobodzian
When the bodies of Jonathan Pitts and girlfriend Nakeisha Finks were found this summer in their ransacked West Philadelphia home - bound and shot execution-style - police called it a home invasion gone awry.
That description holds, though authorities yesterday added that the killings were anything but random violence. Rather, authorities contend, they were the result of a plot by Nafis Pinkney, Pitts' best friend, who allegedly recruited two burglars and told them where to look for what he believed was a large cache of drug money.
A Philadelphia judge ruled that Pinkney, 21, should be tried on second-degree murder, conspiracy, burglary, robbery, and related charges in the deaths of Pitts, 21, and Finks, 20.
The friendship between Pitts and Pinkney and emotion-charged revelations during the preliminary hearing triggered a near fistfight afterward in the crowded Criminal Justice Center courtroom.
The sides were separated and ordered to leave in shifts to avoid further conflict.
The bodies were discovered Aug. 29 in the second-floor bedroom of the couple's house in the 5500 block of Delancey Street.
Police Officer Jessica Roseberry testified that she reported to Delancey Street about 11 a.m. Aug. 29 after a call from Finks' three sisters, who were worried because she had failed to go to work even though her car was parked outside.
Roseberry said police found a dining-room window frame damaged and an air conditioner pushed inside. In the dining room was a table set up with a Monopoly game that appeared to have been interrupted.
The house had been ransacked, Roseberry said, and when police worked their way upstairs, they found the front bedroom door closed and a footprint stain outside.
When she opened the bedroom door, Roseberry said, she saw two bodies on the bed partly covered by a quilt. Each had duct tape over the eyes and tape binding the arms. Each had a single gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Atop the quilt was a brown envelope with "$96" written on the outside.
Assistant District Attorney Leon Goodman said afterward that police were still looking for the two burglars. He said he was also awaiting results of a DNA test on semen found in Finks' body.
Goodman also confirmed that investigators believe Pitts and Pinkney worked together selling marijuana.
Pinkney had no previous criminal record. Philadelphia court records show Pitts had convictions since 2007 for driving under the influence, possession of marijuana, and recklessly endangering another person. His probation on that last charge ended in August.
Pinkney was incriminated in the deaths after giving inconsistent statements to homicide detectives during interviews on Aug. 29 and 30.
Detective Ohmarr P. Jenkins testified that Pinkney was among a group of Delancey Street neighbors brought in as possible eyewitnesses.
After requestioning Pinkney about the inconsistencies, Jenkins said, Pinkney admitted that he recruited the burglars to steal drug money, telling them how to break in and where Pitts hid the cash.
Jenkins said Pinkney told police that he met with the burglars after the break-in. They told Pinkney, Jenkins testified, that there was no money and that they had killed Pitts and Finks.
Defense Attorney Daniel-Paul Alva challenged the statement's validity, saying that Pinkney was held for 22 hours before he gave it and that there were no transcripts of Pinkney's earlier statements to detectives.
Alva persuaded Municipal Court Judge Jimmie Moore not to hold Pinkney for trial on the more-severe first-degree murder charge, insisting there was no evidence that Pinkney knew the burglars carried guns or would kill Pitts and Finks.
Contact staff writer Joseph A. Slobodzian at 215-854-2985 or jslobodzian@phillynews.com.
Post a comment
Philly.com news blogs
today's 
