Handyman charged with murder of recent Drexel graduate

WEST PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police have released the name of the man they say sexually assaulted, beat and strangled a recent Drexel University graduate inside her West Philadelphia apartment.

56-year-old James Harris of West Philadelphia is now facing murder, rape, robbery, burglary and related charges.

Police say fingerprints and DNA evidence connected Harris to the crime.

The body of 27-year-old Jasmine Wright was found last Thursday in the rear bedroom of her third floor apartment in the 200 block of South 50th Street.

Harris had been held for days on burglary charges. Police say he is a career criminal who had been hired to do maintenance work in her West Philadelphia building.

Police say Harris has a long and violent history, including the murder of his father and the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl.

A week prior to the murder, Harris had been banned from the building after being evicted from his own apartment, just three doors away from where Wright had been living.

Police say Harris had kept his keys and was seen entering the building 30 minutes prior to when Wright arrived home, and then broke into her apartment.

With this information, police initially arrested Harris on burglary and criminal trespass charges.

Police say they later learned that when Wright arrived home she was on her cell phone talking to her mother, and it was then that Harris attacked her. Wright's mother told police she heard a struggle before the phone went dead.

Investigators believe Wright was beaten and strangled next to the bed, but she was placed on the bed after the attack.

Harris then allegedly tried to clean the crime scene using bleach.

Wright graduated just four weeks ago from Drexel with a Masters in Environmental and Occupational health.

Police believe she had been dead for 24 hours when her body was discovered by the property manager.

Her father, who lives in the Bronx, had asked the manager to check on her because he hadn't heard from her.

As for a motive in the crime, police say that remains unclear.

Philadelphia Police Captain James Clark described Harris' violent past by saying, "He's 56 years of age, he has 31 priors. Back in '82 he was arrested for killing his own father. He's been arrested several times for sexual assault, several robberies, several burglaries. I mean, he's a monster. We're very happy to get him off of the streets."

Why Harris was out on the streets in the first place befuddles police.

"It's a hard pill for us to swallow, so hopefully now we got it right. Hopefully he'll spend the rest of his life in jail like he should have been a long time ago," said Capt. Clark.

Capt. Clark couldn't say enough about the people who worked so hard on this case.

"Homicide Detectives Burke and Joyce worked around the clock. Give kudos to the crime scene unit and the chem lab - they worked on their days off to expedite the DNA," he said.

Capt. Clark says he hopes this time that Harris gets the death penalty upon conviction, but that's something the Philadelphia District Attorney will have to consider later down the road.