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Contract killer gets decades for 4 Philadelphia murders

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 06:06:07 +0000

Steven M. Williams (Pennsylvania Attorney General).

In Pennsylvania, a man has been sentenced for his role in murdering four men for cash in less than the span of a year from late 2018 to mid 2019. Steven M. Williams, 30, must spend more than 40 years in prison, according to authorities in a report from CBS News.

He pleaded guilty back in December to three counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. According to the state’s attorney general’s office, he had a role in four men shot to death in Philadelphia:

William Crawford, 35, on Sept. 8, 2018 in the 1900 block of Hartel Avenue
Jermaine Simmons, 39, on Feb. 10, 2019, in the 7500 block of Forest Avenue in West Oak Lane
Richard Isaac, 31, on March 25, 2019, in the 100 block of East Meehan Street in Mount Airy
Leslie Carroll, 39, on May 4, 2019, at 20th Street and Girard Avenue in Fairmount (Prior reports and online obituaries had his age as 46, but the DA’s office had it as 39.)

“This defendant callously took lives, for dollars, as a paid killer,” Attorney General Michelle Henry said in December. “The defendant is without a doubt a danger to society, and we will be asking the court for a sentence that ensures that the community is protected.”

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Online searches lead to decades in prison for murderess mom

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 13:41:48 +0000

Stephany Bilecki (Fairbanks Police Department).

An Alaska mom will spend the next several decades behind bars for the suffocation murder of her infant daughters two years apart.

In July, Stephany Elizabeth Bilecki, 30, formerly known as Stephany LaFountain, pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in the second degree over the deaths of her 4-month-old and 13-month-old baby girls.

On Monday afternoon, in a Fairbanks courtroom, Bilecki was sentenced to 130 years in prison — with 85 years suspended. In total, she will serve 45 years in state prison.

In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors dropped two additional charges of second-degree murder dropped — as well as two charges of murder in the first degree.

“The mandatory minimum for both of those is, in fact, 20 years because this was her child in each case,” Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Crail said during the sentencing hearing, according to a courtroom report by Fairbanks-based NBC affiliate KTVF.

In September 2015, the since-condemned woman called her boyfriend and mother to break the grim news: her 4-month-old girl, Chyanne, was dead, prosecutors explained in a press release. Ten minutes later, and just before her mother arrived, the murderess dialed 911.

Otherwise a healthy little girl, the cause of death was presumed to be sudden infant death syndrome. An investigation would later determine she died from injuries consistent with strangulation.

Then, two years passed, and the killer struck again. And the sequence of events would prove to be eerily similar.

In November 2017, while her husband was deployed, she attempted to call him but settled for calling her in-laws. This time, Bilecki reported that her 13-month-old girl, Jasmine, was not breathing. Once again, just before the girl’s grandparents arrived, the mother called 911.

But this time, the investigation would be markedly more searching — and come up with tell-tale evidence of the crime.

In the hours before making the phone calls, Bilecki searched the internet on her cellular phone using phrases like: “ways to suffocate,” “ways to kill a human with no proof,” “drugs that can kill ppl with no trade,” “can drowning show in an o autopsy report,” “16 steps to kill someone and not get caught” and others along those lines, prosecutors said.

Days later, the second child died.

An autopsy would show that Jasmine’s cause of death was a lack of oxygen.

Suspicions significantly aroused, investigators soon began to understand that Bilecki was likely responsible for each of the deaths — and the original investigation was reopened.

In August 2018, she was indicted by a grand jury in Fairbanks.

“Just think about a mother killing both her children over two years, completely isolated events, and what that means, and what happens sometimes in our community, and sometimes just the evil that exists, that’s out there,” then-Fairbanks Police Department Chief Eric Jewkes said at the time.

Years of legal wrangling ensued.

Superior Court Judge Patricia Haines accepted the guilty plea over the summer, KTVF reported, describing the defendant as “barely audible” when she accepted legal culpability.

The state requested each murder be punished with 65 years — with 40 years suspended for one count and 45 years suspended for the second count. The judge obliged that request. If and when Bilecki is released, she will be subject to a maximum of 10 years probation. She will not be allowed to have unsupervised contact with minors under 16 in non-public locations.

“The conduct forming the basis of defendant Bilecki’s convictions shocks the conscience,” Fairbanks District Attorney Joe Dallaire said in a statement. “Although we cannot pretend that anything will ever make up for the losses suffered by the fathers of these babies or their other family members, I do hope the convictions and the sentences imposed affords some measure of justice to the families of Jasmine and Chyanne and to the Fairbanks community at large.”

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Dentist gets decades for girlfriend’s overdose death

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 08:05:39 +0000

Dr. James Michael Ryan (YouTube screenshot) and Sarah Harris (Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office)

A 50-year-old dentist and oral surgeon in Maryland will spend more than four decades behind bars for killing his 25-year-old girlfriend who fatally overdosed on addictive anesthesia medications administered through an at-home IV station the doctor had set up for her in the rental house they shared. State Circuit Court Judge Cheryl A. McCally on Wednesday ordered James Michael Ryan to serve a sentence of 45 years in a state correctional facility, authorities announced.

As previously reported by Law&Crime, a Montgomery County jury in August deliberated for less than three hours before finding Ryan guilty of one count of second-degree depraved heart murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Sarah Harris. He was also convicted on charges of possession with the intent to distribute midazolam and distribution of ketamine and diazepam.

Ryan had been facing a maximum sentence of 55 years in prison before Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, however, the state sentencing guidelines had been calculated at between 10 to 25 years, the Washington Post reported. McCally reportedly said she decided to far exceed those guidelines due to Ryan’s significant contribution to Harris’ death — providing her with the drugs stolen from his practice — as well as his exploitation of a position of power over the former beauty queen who began working for him for several years before her death. Prosecutors said that he “often administered” the drugs to Harris himself.

During the sentencing hearing, McCally reportedly recounted “the march to Sarah’s death,” emphasizing text messages showed Ryan on at least one occasion administered ketamine to Harris while she was asleep.

According to court documents, Ryan said he went to bed at 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 25, 2020. He said the alleged victim was “okay when he went to bed,” However, when he went back downstairs on Jan. 26, 2022, he told police he found her “unresponsive on the couch with used hypodermic needles and various vials of controlled dangerous substances bottles nearby,” the court paperwork indicates.

Despite lifesaving measures from Montgomery County Fire Rescue, Harris died there, the press release stated.

Ryan was first arrested and charged in Harris’ death in March 2022.

Ryan and Harris first met when she visited his office for a medical procedure in the fall of 2020. During the procedure, Harris shared that she had experience working in a dental office. Ryan later contacted Harris about a job at his office. Harris accepted the offer and began working for him as a surgical technician.

In January 2021, Harris and Ryan began dating, with Harris spending “significant time” at Ryan’s home, authorities said. The two began living together permanently in the summer of 2021. Despite outspoken concerns from her family members, Harris’ relationship with Ryan continued up until her death from overdosing.

Authorities said an autopsy determined that her cause of death was ketamine and diazepam intoxication. Various vials of the drugs, hypodermic needles, syringes, and tourniquets were also found in the home.

According to text messages obtained by authorities, Harris asked Ryan to provide her with drugs from his medical practice. Ryan then told Harris how to use the drugs he provided. The two also discussed ways to make the effects of the drugs more potent and how to help Harris recover from the effects as quickly as possible.

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