FAMILY AFFAIR
D.A.: SON FATALLY BEAT, STABBED DAD, THEN DUMPED BODY ALONG MAIN LINE ROAD
YEADON » A borough man has been arrested after admitting to his father’s grisly murder in a West Providence Road home they shared, police said.
Robert Coult III is charged with criminal homicide, murder in the first and third degree, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence for beating and stabbing his father to death, then dumping the body on the 1600 block of Springmill Road in Gladwyne near the Philadelphia Country Club, according to a probable cause affidavit written by Delaware County Detectives Dave Tyler and Timothy Deery.
“The defendant brutally bludgeoned and repeatedly stabbed his own father in the head,” said Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland at a press conference Monday afternoon. “He then attempted to dismember the body, ultimately discarding him in Lower Merion.”
Coult III allegedly confessed to the crime after blood splatter was found in the home he shared with his father on the unit block of West Providence Road in Yeadon.
Coult III told detectives his father, 59-year-old Robert Coult Jr., accused him of stealing money from him Friday morning and the argument was rekindled when Coult Jr. returned home that afternoon.
During the argument, Coult III said his father pushed him down the stairs. Coult III then went into a dining room where he was followed by the victim, according to the affidavit.
“Coult III said as Coult Jr. approached him in the dining room area, Coult Jr. appeared as if he was going to fight Coult III,” the affidavit states. “Coult III said he then picked up a hammer which was located on a table in the dining room and struck Coult Jr. in the head.”
Coult III said his father fell to the floor, where the defendant struck him several more times in the head with the hammer, according to the affidavit. Not believing his father was dead, Coult III allegedly retrieved a kitchen knife and stabbed the victim in the head.
Once he was sure the other man was dead, Coult III dragged him to the basement and wrapped a towel around his head and placed a plastic bag over the towel, according to the affidavit. He then allegedly attempted to dismember the body.
“Coult III said he stabbed Coult Jr. in the stomach and leg and tried to cut his body up with a Saw All (sic) tool, which he said did not break the skin,” according to the affidavit.
Over the course of several hours, Coult dragged the body back upstairs to the back porch and loaded it into the passenger seat of his Chevy Trailblazer, according to the affidavit. Copeland noted Coult III had removed his father’s clothing and changed his shirt, then buckled him into the vehicle and propped his head against the headrest so he would appear to be alive to a casual observer.
Yeadon Police Chief Anthony R. Paparo said there is video of Coult III leaving his home around midnight and returning around 4 a.m. Investigators are still searching for any additional video that might have been taken between the location of the murder and where the body was discovered, Paparo said.
The drive at that time of night would probably have taken about 15 minutes, Paparo estimated.
Coult III told detectives he drove to the Springmill Road site, which he believed to be in Bryn Mawr, and left the body there after removing the towel and bag. Those items were placed in a dumpster at the Burger King at Darby Pike and West Chester Pike in Havertown along with a section of carpet containing the victim’s blood that Coult III had cut out and brought with him, the affidavit states.
Coult III then dumped his bloody clothes and shoes in a dumpster across the street behind a roofing business, according to the affidavit. All of those items were later recovered. Investigators also recovered the hammer, reciprocating saw and knife from the residence, according to the affidavit.
The arrest was the culmination of a joint investigation between the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office Criminal Investigation Division, Yeadon Police, Lower Merion Police and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.
The victim was discovered about 7:26 a.m. by a country club employee, according to Paparo. Lower Merion Police Officer Stephanie Thomas was called to the scene and found 59-year-old Robert Coult Jr. lying on his back wearing a T-shirt, socks and underwear. No identification was with the body.
Paparo said whoever had left the victim there did not just dump the body, but seemed to have taken some care with placing Coult Jr., perhaps to give him some measure of dignity. Mont-
gomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said the area where the body was placed would have been extremely dark at night.
A forensic pathologist with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office determined the manner of death was homicide due to sharp and blunt force injuries.
The unknown body was identified as Coult Jr. Sunday after his girlfriend called state police to report him missing. Paparo said the victim had last been seen alive about 3:30 p.m. Friday and had last spoken with the girlfriend on the phone at about 5 p.m.
“She tried to get him (on the phone) at 5:30 that same day and there was no response,” said Paparo.
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Chris Haldren
took the missing persons complaint and forwarded a picture of Coult Jr. to Montgomery County investigators, who matched the picture to the body.
Delaware County 911 had also received a missing persons report from the victim’s brother at about 3:19 p.m. Sunday and Yeadon Police Officer Michael Sarro was dispatched to the home the two men shared with a female on Providence Road.
Paparo said the female was not romantically linked to either man and had been out overnight with her boyfriend Friday, returning the next day.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that if she had returned home, she would have returned home to the murder,” said Paparo.
He added that Coult III and the woman’s boyfriend played video games all afternoon Saturday and that he did not appear to show “any remorse whatsoever.”
Paparo said Sarro got the feeling that something was off while questioning Coult III and brought him in for an interview with detectives at Yeadon Police Headquarters.
Coult III consented to a search of the property and two vehicles there, according to the affidavit. He confessed after the blood splatter was discovered in the house and Trailblazer, according to the affidavit.
Coult III did not have a comment about the crime as he was lead out of Yeadon Police Headquarters Monday, but told reporters, “All you people with cameras are vultures.”
He was preliminarily arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Keith Williams II and remanded to the county prison in Yeadon without bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 25. Coult III does not have an attorney, according to Copeland spokesperson Emily Harris.