The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Couple charged with murder
of Collingdale, Pa.
According to a press release issued by Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele and Plymouth Township police Chief Joseph Lawrence, the pair met Konata in the parking lot of West Ridge Center in the 400 block of Ridge Pike for a purported heroin deal,
but wound up stabbing him multiple times before making off with eight bundles of the drug, which is less than 100 doses.
Parkinson was also charged with lying to detectives in his initial statement.
“This murder today is another casualty of the far-reaching opioid epidemic we’re facing here in Montgomery County,” said Steele. “This man was murdered for about $800 worth of heroin — $800.”
The investigation began around 5:45 p.m. Monday, when police were called to the shopping center for a report of a 2012 Buick Sedan that had collided with a parked car. Inside, they found the body of the victim, who appeared to have been stabbed multiple times.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office completed an autopsy Tuesday, which determined that Konata died from multiple sharp-force injuries and the manner of death was homicide.
According to the arresting affidavit, Plymouth Township detectives at the scene obtained surveillance video that showed two people entering, then running from the victim’s car moments before it drifted through the lot and struck the other vehicle.
One of the figures on the security video appeared to be limping while running away.
Detectives followed a trail of blood leading from where Konata’s car was parked at the presumed time of the stabbing to a parking space on the east side of the Outback Steakhouse next to the strip mall.
Montgomery County detectives processed the scene and recovered two cellphones from inside the Buick and two knives under Konata’s body. Several bags of suspected heroin were also recovered from the area around the vehicle.
The phones, which were found to belong to Konata, contained several text messages from a number belonging to “Austin,” indicating they would meet around 5 p.m.
Detectives interviewed a witness who reportedly saw a dark-colored sedan, possibly an Audi, fleeing the scene. And a concerned citizen contacted investigators with information regarding a man who reportedly drove Parkinson and Lare to the strip mall in an Audi matching the witness’s description, and later drove the couple to Einstein Medical Center Montgomery to treat an injury to Lare’s hand.
According to the criminal complaint, detectives obtained security video of Parkinson and Lare arriving at the hospital in a black Audi sedan at 5:32 p.m.
In separate interviews on Nov. 21, Parkinson and Lare reportedly admitted to being driven by a friend to meet up with Konata.
Lare reportedly told detectives the couple had recently married and she had not yet taken Parkinson’s name. She said they went to the meet with the intention of robbing Konata and they were both armed with knives. Once in the car, she told detectives, Parkinson began screaming at Konata and started to stab him. She surmised that she received a cut to her right hand when she reached across the victim from the back seat during the stabbing.
Parkinson originally told a different story, according to the criminal complaint. He reportedly told detectives he and Lare intended to buy heroin from Konata, but Konata stabbed Lare in the hand, provoking the attack.
When confronted with the inconsistencies in his and Lare’s stories, he recanted and reportedly admitted to stabbing Konata with a “big knife” in the commission of a heroin robbery and said he was unsure how many times he had stabbed Konata because he was in “such a rage.”
In addition to first-degree murder, Parkinson and Lare face charges of second and third-degree murder, possession of instruments of crime, drug possession and multiple counts of robbery and conspiracy related to the crime.
Both are scheduled for preliminary hearings before District Judge Francis Bernhardt on Dec. 12 at 9:30 a.m. and the case will be prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Tonya Lupinacci and Robert J. Kolansky.
Court records did not indicate whether the alleged driver will face any charges.