Kitchen Knife

Jonathan Sigal, the 23-year-old Lower Makefield man charged with killing his father with an eight-inch kitchen knife and stabbing his mother, was held over for trial in Bucks County Court yesterday. After a preliminary hearing before District Justice Bruce Sattin in Morrisville, public defender Peter Hall said Sigal was "gravely ill" and receiving psychiatric treatment at Norristown State Hospital. Sigal was returned to the hospital after the hearing, Hall said. Sigal allegedly stabbed his father, Edward, 53, more than 10 times in the face, neck and back after an argument early on Mother's Day, May 9. He has been charged with first-degree murder and related offenses.

A Montgomery County Court judge yesterday ruled that Christopher J. Ford was unaware he was doing anything wrong when he attacked and killed his parents with a kitchen knife 19 months ago. Judge Paul W. Tressler found Ford, 25, not guilty by reason of insanity in a short trial on murder and assault charges stemming from the September 1993 attack at the Ford family's Abington home. After the verdict, Ford, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, was involuntarily committed to the state mental hospital system, where he will remain until a court order is issued declaring that he is sane.

It was, the district attorney said, "a love rectangle. " Around 5:25 a.m. Friday in Nockamixon Township, Bucks County, Lloyd Hill, 41, stabbed to death his estranged wife, Stefanie Lynn Hill, 37, and fatally bludgeoned the man she was living with, Fred Tarantino, 44, with an aluminum baseball bat, District Attorney David Heckler said. Fred Tarantino was the estranged husband of Tara Tarantino, with whom Lloyd Hill was living in Quakertown. The couples had met at church, Heckler said, and began going out together as friends.

A South Philadelphia woman died early yesterday during a family quarrel in which the woman's son allegedly grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed her and his sister several times. Clara Frazier, 72, of the 300 block of Titan Street in South Philadelphia, was pronounced dead at her home at 2:08 a.m. yesterday of multiple stab wounds in her chest and stomach, police said. The woman's daughter, Vivian Frazier, 39, of the same address, was listed in stable condition yesterday at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital with multiple stab wounds in her back.

Alice Woods was in poor health and was about to be evicted from her apartment. So, her son decided to do her a big favor and kill her, the prosecutor said. He didn't just kill her, he butchered her, said Assistant District Attorney Gail Fairman. In a statement to police, the son, Ernest Woods, 34, described how he went to his 65-year-old mother's apartment on Dorcas Terrace near Benner Street, Oxford Circle, May 30, 1992. "I grabbed her by the neck and I guess I strangled her for about 10 minutes," Woods told police.

A preliminary hearing has been set for tomorrow for a 27-year-old Glenside woman charged with stabbing her boyfriend with a kitchen knife at her home in the 600 block of Edge Hill Road last Thursday. Police have charged Ann Phillips with possession of an instrument of crime, simple and aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct. They said that she stabbed Gerald Plakis, 37, of the 100 block of Atwood Road, Erdenheim, with a knife during an argument. Plakis was stabbed once in the right forearm with an eight-inch kitchen knife, police said.

A West Deptford man who strangled his two young half-sisters to death in 2007 was found not guilty by reason of insanity yesterday. A Superior Court judge in Gloucester County ruled that Marqueese Lee, 21, did not know that his actions were wrong when he killed the girls. A psychiatric examination found that Lee is a paranoid schizophrenic whose ability to reason is flawed. Lee, who waived his right to trial, is on medication and being held in the medical unit of the Gloucester County jail on $750,000 bail.

Police have charged a 29-year-old Ridley Township woman with murder in the death of her infant son. She cut his wrist, then her own, with a kitchen knife, police said. Amy Beyers was found unconscious in her bed Wednesday afternoon with her son, Bobby, in the Sixth Avenue home she shared with her mother. Beyers, suffering from depression, left a note on her baby's changing table that said she wanted to kill her son and herself, police said. The infant was pronounced dead at Taylor Hospital.

Police have charged a 29-year-old Ridley Township woman with murder in the death of her infant son. She cut his wrist, then her own, with a kitchen knife, police said. Amy Beyers was found unconscious in her bed Wednesday afternoon with her son, Bobby, in the Sixth Avenue home she shared with her mother. Beyers, suffering from depression, left a note on her baby's changing table that said she wanted to kill her son and herself, police said. The infant was pronounced dead at Taylor Hospital.

A 35-year-old Hatboro man has been charged with trying to kill a Willow Grove man by stabbing him three times with a kitchen knife inside the victim's car on Woodland Avenue, according to Hatboro police. Larry Monroe of Woodland Avenue has been charged with criminal attempted homicide and related charges in connection with an incident about 5 p.m. Monday. He is accused of stabbing Jude Morancy, 31, of the 400 block of North Easton Road. In addition, Monroe faces charges of aggravated and simple assault, reckless endangerment, harassment, possession of an instrument of crime and an offensive weapon.

It was, the district attorney said, "a love rectangle. " Around 5:25 a.m. Friday in Nockamixon Township, Bucks County, Lloyd Hill, 41, stabbed to death his estranged wife, Stefanie Lynn Hill, 37, and fatally bludgeoned the man she was living with, Fred Tarantino, 44, with an aluminum baseball bat, District Attorney David Heckler said. Fred Tarantino was the estranged husband of Tara Tarantino, with whom Lloyd Hill was living in Quakertown. The couples had met at church, Heckler said, and began going out together as friends.

A 31-year-old man was arrested Friday and charged in the stabbing deaths this week of a 78-year-old man and his female roommate in South Philadelphia, police said. Authorities spotted Omar Johnson, who had been identified as the suspect, at Broad and Moore Streets about 11:45 a.m., said Homicide Capt. James Clark. Johnson resisted arrest, but was taken into custody. Clark said Johnson knew Janet Burgess, 50, who lived in an apartment rented by Eugene C. Zappacosta in the 1300 block of Dickinson Street.

THE ISSUE of trying juveniles as adults has never been more controversial in Philadelphia than during the case of Miriam White, who, in 1999, became the youngest person in the city ever charged with murder. On the evening of Aug. 20, White, 11, bolted from her family's South Philadelphia rowhouse with an 8-inch kitchen knife. She was angry because someone had said something to her about her letting the cat out of the house. While rambling down a sidewalk, White, who suffered from mental-health issues and a history of psychiatric problems, spotted a stranger, Rosemarie Knight, 55, who was walking her dog on her 27th wedding anniversary.

The grieving women knelt on a floor scrubbed of blood, praying the children's souls to heaven. In life, the children were Savanna Mao, 12, who wore stylish purple glasses to match her personality, and her brother, Savann, 8, who at night prayed for a guitar and a drum so he could form a rock band. Their mother killed them in this tiny bedroom. Chanthy Mao, 27, whose family said she had mental-health issues, stabbed them Wednesday afternoon with a kitchen knife inside the Point Breeze rowhouse apartment she shared with her parents, police said.

Authorities in two states failed Monday to locate a 57-year-old woman who they say was beaten in her Bucks County apartment early Sunday and then abducted, shoeless and at knifepoint, in her own vehicle. Diane Corado's 2004 Pontiac Aztek turned up along a Camden street Sunday evening, its interior apparently stained with blood. Two hours later, Corado's ex-boyfriend - his clothes bearing bloodlike stains - was arrested at a Maple Shade motel on kidnapping, assault, and other charges.

Police have charged a 29-year-old Ridley Township woman with murder in the death of her infant son. She cut his wrist, then her own, with a kitchen knife, police said. Amy Beyers was found unconscious in her bed Wednesday afternoon with her son, Bobby, in the Sixth Avenue home she shared with her mother. Beyers, suffering from depression, left a note on her baby's changing table that said she wanted to kill her son and herself, police said. The infant was pronounced dead at Taylor Hospital.

Police have charged a 29-year-old Ridley Township woman with murder in the death of her infant son. She cut his wrist, then her own, with a kitchen knife, police said. Amy Beyers was found unconscious in her bed Wednesday afternoon with her son, Bobby, in the Sixth Avenue home she shared with her mother. Beyers, suffering from depression, left a note on her baby's changing table that said she wanted to kill her son and herself, police said. The infant was pronounced dead at Taylor Hospital.

A man accused of choking and fatally stabbing his stepmother had been kicked out of their Lawnside home for behavior his parents would "not tolerate," officials said Wednesday. Adeniyi Bob-Grey, 21, of Willingboro, appeared for a murder arraignment in Superior Court in Camden County, where he was ordered held on $1 million bail in the death of Hawa Bob-Grey, 33, of Sadler Avenue. "This was a horrible crime," Camden County Assistant Prosecutor Mary Alison Albright told the judge as she described how Adeniyi Bob-Grey sneaked into the house through the basement Tuesday afternoon.