3rd man charged in death of man stabbed, set afire in 2018

BETHLEHEM, PA. » A third man has been charged in the death of an eastern Pennsylvania man who was stabbed and set on fire while he was still alive almost three years ago.

LehighValleyLive reports that Alkiohn Dunkins of Allentown is the latest to face charges of criminal homicide, arson, kidnapping and related counts in the April 2018 death of 18-year-old Tyrell Holmes of Bethlehem.

Authorities say he was stabbed and set on fire, and his burning body left next to a trash container near the Parkhurst Apartments. An autopsy concluded that he died of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries as well as multiple stab wounds. A day earlier, investigators say, he had identified three people he feared would kill him.

Charged in 2019 were Yzire Jenkins-Rowe and Miles Harper. Northampton County prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty in the case, citing multiple felonies and the fact that the killing is considered torture.

Prosecutors allege that the three defendants were part of a Bethlehem-based gang responsible for crimes from 2015 through 2018 in Lehigh, Northampton and Allegheny counties as well as a 2018 shooting at Lehigh Valley Mall. Prosecutors have alleged that the defendants believed Holmes had stolen from the group in connection with a botched marijuana robbery.

District Attorney Terry Houck said Thursday the new charges and the previous ones had effectively put the gang “out of business.”

Dunkins is currently serving a five- to 10-year term in another drug-related robbery in February 2018, when he was a Moravian College student and football player. He was arraigned Thursday and ordered held without bail in the homicide case. Court documents don’t list a defense attorney; Dunkins and his family and attorney earlier denied that he was a gang member.