D.A. says Norristown teen fatally stabbed, burned for $350
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
Shakeem L. Carter, 20, is accused of fatally stabbing Kevin S. Allen on Feb. 12.
His tattoos included “cutthroat” on his neck and flames on his left hand, images that factored into a grisly homicide, authorities said.
Two weeks after investigators found “a doorway to hell” in a burning, blood-splattered apartment in North Coventry Township, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced the arrest of Shakeem L. Carter, 20, of Norristown.
Hogan said police found the body of Kevin S. Allen, 17, in his father’s apartment, which was ablaze in the Hanover Garden complex on East Schuylkill Road on Feb. 12 about 7 p.m. He said Allen was stabbed about 20 times, including across his throat. Carter apparently used cooking oil to ignite the victim’s body and a bedroom mattress, Hogan said.
A tattoo on the neck of Shakeem L. Carter, used by authorities to identify him, also describes what he allegedly did to Kevin S. Allen, the 17-year-old homicide victim.
Allen, who lived in Norristown, was visiting his father so he could pick up $350 left for him, Hogan said. Instead, the money disappeared, and Allen became the county’s latest homicide victim, Hogan said.
According to the criminal complaint, police found one bent, bloody knife on the kitchen floor and two knives and two bottles of cooking oil – all blood-stained – outside the apartment. Video from a Septa bus that Allen routinely used to travel from Norristown to Pottstown showed Allen and Carter traveling together at 5:11 p.m., the complaint said.
At 8:30 p.m., Carter, a father of two, is shown traveling back to Norristown alone, the complaint said, adding that despite cold weather, he is no longer wearing a black-hooded sweatshirt. During an interview with detectives, Carter denied being with Allen, insisting he barely knew him, the complaint said.
When confronted with images from the bus, Carter admitted lying, but said he never went to the apartment of Carter’s father before terminating the interview, the complaint said. After executing a search warrant at Carter’s residence, police seized a pair of Nike sneakers that appeared to have blood on them, the complaint said.
Detectives also interviewed Biancha Hernandez, the defendant’s live-in girlfriend and mother of his two children. She said Carter told her he was going to Pottstown with Allen the night of the homicide; she said she had no explanation for the cuts and puncture wounds on Carter’s hands, the complaint said.
“These injuries were consistent with the defendant using a knife with great force, resulting in incidental injuries to his own hands,” the complaint said.
After arraignment, Carter was taken to Chester County Prison to await a preliminary hearing on March 21. According to court records, Carter was on probation after having serving a 5- to 12-month prison sentence followed by three years’ probation for a 2011 theft from a motor vehicle.
