Suspects to stand trial for murder of Pottstown woman
POTTSTOWN >> Two suspects will be heading to trial in relation to the home invasion and murder of a Pottstown woman in November.
Defendants Aaron Joseph Taylor, 18, of the first block of West Second Street, and Camren Xavier Williams, 17, of the 800 block of North Franklin Street, each waived their preliminary hearings Tuesday in relation to charges involving the death of Pottstown resident Sylvia Williams, 38.
Defendant Camren Xavier Williams has no relation to the victim, authorities said.
An investigation began about 6:43 p.m. Nov. 18 when borough police responded to the residence to investigate the activation of a security alarm. As officers arrived at the scene, they observed a male jump from the second floor of the home and he told police that his girlfriend, Sylvia Williams, was injured and still inside the residence.
When police entered the residence they found Sylvia Williams, with a bleeding wound to her head, dead in a second-floor front bedroom.
At the time they arrived on the scene, police also observed a light-colored compact car leaving the area at a high rate of speed, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective John Wittenberger and Pottstown Detective Mark Wickersham.
An autopsy determined Sylvia Williams died from a gunshot wound to the head and her death was ruled a homicide.
Sylvia Williams’s boyfriend told detectives he was on the second-floor of the residence when he heard yelling. As he started to descend the stairwell to the first-floor, Sylvia Williams’s boyfriend observed a male, wearing a mask and armed with an automatic handgun, according to the arrest affidavit.
According to detectives, the victim’s boyfriend said he ran to his bedroom, which also was occupied by the victim, and he closed the bedroom door, holding it closed with his feet while lying on the floor. Sylvia Williams then handed her boyfriend an alarm remote and a panic alarm was activated, detectives alleged.
Sylvia Williams then assisted her boyfriend in holding the door shut.
“(The boyfriend) stated the suspect tried to get into the bedroom by striking the door before (the boyfriend) heard one gunshot,” Wittenberger and Wickersham alleged in the arrest affidavit.
The boyfriend reported it “got quiet,” following the gunshot and he noticed the victim was not moving and was bleeding from her head, according to the arrest affidavit.
Police subsequently learned that the home invasion had been captured on video through a security system in the home. Still photos from the footage were released to the public in an effort to identify the suspects. Additionally, police were able to identify the vehicle through footage from nearby street cameras.
Police were then able to identify the suspects as Taylor and Williams.
Williams has been charged with criminal homicide, robbery, conspiracy, possession of an instrument of crime with intent, firearms not to be carried without a license and burglary. Taylor is being charged with murder of the second degree, murder of the third degree, robbery, conspiracy, possession of an instrument of crime with intent, burglary and firearms not to be carried without a license.
The pair will be formally arraigned on February 13, 2019.