Man charged in murder of Elkins Park pregnant woman, unborn child
CHELTENHAM TWP., Pa. (WPVI) -- A Philadelphia man has been charged in the stabbing deaths of a pregnant woman and her unborn child in Elkins Park, Montgomery County.
Tristian Jones, 35, has been charged with two counts of First-Degree Murder and related charges, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Cheltenham Township Police Chief John Frye announced Tuesday morning.
Authorities say Jones admitted that he was the father of the unborn child and his wife did not know of his relationship with the victim.
Around 3:20 a.m. on February 19, the Cheltenham Township Police Department responded to the 2000 block of Mather Way for a reported argument.
Police arrived on the scene and located the victim, identified as 31-year-old Eboney White, inside the apartment's master bedroom, where she had been stabbed multiple times.
White was 7 months pregnant at the time of her death. The fetus did not survive the attack.
Police say the victim's children, ages 12 and 7, were inside the apartment at the time of the stabbing, but were not harmed.
The victim's 12-year-old daughter called 911 from a bathroom at the home, according to police.
Officials say there was no evidence of a struggle elsewhere in the apartment and no evidence of a robbery since laptop computers and White's pocketbook had not been taken.
Video surveillance and cash register receipts revealed the suspect purchased clothing and an Imusa paring knife and cutting board set from a Burlington store earlier that evening, officials say.
Steele said in a statement, "Domestic violence and intimate partner violence like this senseless killing is all too often a hidden crime until it's too late and police arrive to investigate a murder. This attack and murder of a mother and her unborn child happened while her two young children were in the apartment. They could hear their mother being attacked and stabbed to death. The older child very bravely did everything she could to help her mother and had the presence of mind amidst this horrible attack to lock herself in the bathroom to call 911."
An autopsy on the victim's body determined that the cause of White's death was multiple stab wounds, and the cause of death for the male fetus was intrauterine death due to maternal stab wounds.
The manner of death for both was homicide.
A forensic pathologist later compared an Imusa paring knife purchased by detectives to the fatal stab wounds and determined that the knife is consistent with the stabbing injuries to White.
Jones was arraigned Monday. Bail is not available for First-Degree Murder charges, and he was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
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