Philly man formally arraigned in slaying of Jenny Lentz
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A Philadelphia man was formally arraigned Tuesday on criminal homicide and related offenses in the May shooting death of 40-yearold Jenny Lentz in her home on the 7000 block of Clinton Road in Upper Darby.
Abdul Rafi Muhsin, 20, of the 1900 block of Elston Street, is also charged with murder in the first and third degree and weapons offenses. He was arrested in Philadelphia Oct. 8 thanks to a tip to police following a months-long manhunt by Upper Darby detectives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Muhsin appeared before Common Pleas Court Judge Margaret Amoroso with defense attorney Kevin Horan, but stood mute on advice of counsel. Judge Amoroso entered a plea of “not guilty” on his behalf, preserving his right to file motions in the case, and set a pretrial conference date of Feb. 6. Assistant District Attorney Geoffrey Paine is prosecuting.
Officers and paramedics were called to the victim’s address May 19 about 2:23 a.m. for a possible unconscious person with a stab wound to the throat, according to an affidavit of probable cause for Muhsin’s arrest written by Criminal Investigator Kevin Finnegan.
Officer David Cullen was the first on the scene and encountered the victim’s parents standing over her inside the residence at the base of the first-floor stairs, according to the affidavit. Cullen saw a wound on the victim’s neck, and found she was not breathing and had no pulse, the affidavit says.
Paramedics declared her dead at the scene.
The victim’s mother testified at a preliminary hearing last month that that she woke up about 2 a.m. to use the bathroom that night and returned to her bed. She said she heard a scuffle in her daughter’s bedroom about 10 minutes later and could hear her daughter and another man talking in raised voices, but could not make out any words.
The mother said she went to investigate, finding the door to her daughter’s room partially open, and saw Lentz “fussing” with a man in her room that she identified in court as Muhsin.
Lentz told her mother to go back to bed, but she stayed in the doorway. Eventually, she said her daughter exited the bedroom and stood against a hallway wall. The mother was also standing in the hallway as they both waited for Muhsin to leave, she said.
Instead, she said Muhsin came charging out of her daughter’s room and pinned her against the wall, then shot her in the neck. The mother said she heard no gunshot and saw no firearm. She initially believed her daughter had been stabbed.
“He came at her like a crazy person,” she said. “(He) put the gun against her neck and shot it, and she stood there against the wall holding her throat and put her finger in the hole. And then he flew down the steps and left with me and my daughter, dying.”
A Lyft driver also testified that he picked up a man from the Clinton Road location around 2 or 3 a.m. that night, who he also identified in court as Muhsin, and dropped him off at another location, but could not remember the address.
Upper Darby Detective Kevin Finnegan said at the preliminary hearing that he recovered video surveillance from a camera system on the outside of the Clinton Road house that showed the victim letting a man inside about 1:46 a.m. The same man — later identified as Muhsin — is then seen running from the house at 2:19 a.m., he said.
Muhsin was identified from DNA allegedly found at the scene and from text messages he had allegedly sent to Lentz earlier that night coordinating his arrival from Philadelphia. Investigators determined the phone number on those incoming texts was associated with Muhsin and provided a Philadelphia address, the affidavit says.
Detectives with the help of Philadelphia police served a search warrant at that address, which the affidavit says was Muhsin’s aunt’s home. The aunt along with mail found at the address confirmed Muhsin lived there, the affidavit says. Police also allegedly found his Pennsylvania identification card at that address.
Muhsin remains in custody at the county jail in Concord without bail.