Four and, sadly, counting

THUS FAR in 2010, the Philadelphia Police Department has classified four of the city's 37 homicides as domestic-related:

1 Victim: Ameya Whitfield Spratley, 27

Suspect: Keith Moore, 23

Date: Jan. 12 (body found)

Location: S.W. Center City

Incident: Moore is accused of strangling and stabbing Spratley, his longtime girlfriend and mother of his infant son, then tossing her body in their bedroom closet.

2 Victim: Thomas Wright, 63

Suspect: Gerome Wright, 21

Date: Feb. 4

Location: Northeast Philadelphia

Incident: Police say that Gerome Wright, of East Germantown, stabbed and strangled his grandfather at the older man's apartment after the two argued about money. When two employees of the building where Thomas Wright lived tried to intervene, Gerome Wright attacked them, police said. One man was bitten and cut multiple times. The other suffered scalp wounds.

Police arrested Wright as he tried to leave the building.

3 Victim: Kathleen Pappert, 41

Suspect: Allyn Pappert, 63

Date: Feb. 14

Location: Port Richmond

Incident: Police said that Allyn Pappert allegedly shot his daughter around 3:55 a.m. on Valentine's Day. The only motive released was a domestic argument. Pappert was waiting for police when they responded to reports of the shooting.

Neighbors said that the Papperts were virtual recluses who lived in a dilapidated home that at one time had no electricity.

4 Victim: Linda Ellison, 40

Suspect: David Bowens, 49

Date: Feb. 15

Location: Frankford

Incident: Police say that Bowens shot Ellison inside his Northeast Philadelphia home because he thought she was cheating on him. Bowens told a co-worker what he had done, and the co-worker called 9-1-1, police said. Bowens was arrested at the home.

- Natalie Pompilio

Source: Philadelphia Police.