W. Phila. man sought in killing

Police are searching for a West Philadelphia man accused of killing a neighbor of Mayor Nutter's in a dispute over some handyman work last year.

An arrest warrant issued Wednesday alleges that Edward Gause, 43, bludgeoned Robert Lancaster to death inside Lancaster's house on North 50th Street in Wynnefield on Nov. 5.

Gause had done some work at Lancaster's house, and the killing might have stemmed from an argument over payment, police said.

A nephew found Lancaster, 76, in a second-floor bedroom with a pillow over his face and injuries to the left side of his head. Lancaster died of blunt-force trauma, a medical examiner ruled.

Police said Gause had been living and doing handyman work in an apartment house in the 800 block of North 63d Street. He has no family in the city, but U.S. marshals are questioning relatives in Baltimore and Washington, police said.

Nutter has lived on North 50th Street since the fall of 1994.

Police are asking anyone with information to call the homicide fugitive squad at 215-686-3068. - Mike Newall