Crime scene tape outside the 600 building at the Avalon Courts Apartments in Bristol Township. Credit: Tom Sofield LevittownNow.com
Charges were filed Friday morning against the 21-year-old man accused of the November 25 arson fire set to cover up the murder of five-month pregnant Ebony Talley, 22, and her 4-year-old daughter in Bristol Township.
According to the District Attorney’s office and police sources, two counts of criminal homicide, criminal homicide of an unborn child, two counts of arson and a single charge of possessing an instrument of crime will be lodged against Bristol Township resident Marcel Johnson. He will be arraigned before District Judge Joanne Kline in the early afternoon.
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Marcel was a person of interest early on in the investigation and has been in county jail since late November on drug charges. Police picked him up hours after the murder outside the Levittown Trace Apartment Complex and discovered drugs. From there, detectives collected evidence and interviewed the man.
Search warrants for DNA and physical evidence were filed in the hours following the arrest.
Police and firefighters responding a fire in the C building of Avalon Court apartments found the 22-year-old woman with “various injuries including multiple stab wounds on the floor of the apartment,” Heckler said, adding 4-year-old R’Mani was stabbed at least once and suffered from various injuries at what a source described to LevittowNow.com as a “violent scene.”
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The young girl later was pronounced dead at St. Marys Medical Center in Middletown.
The following information was obtained from an affidavit of probable cause filed along with the search warrants in November:
The victims Credit: Family/Submitted
Johnson was spotted by at least two witnesses at the Avalon Court Apartment complex on November 25. In a later interview with a detective, Johnson admitted to being the unit before the fire. He said he left the scene in the Cadillac he was arrested driving.
Talley was found dead face down on the floor of the bedroom in apartment 604 shortly after 3:30 p.m. as a Newportville firefighter worked to extinguish the blaze. Shortly after, a Levittown Fire Company 2 fireman found the body of R’mani under an overturned sofa. He took the girl outside and she was rushed to St. Mary Medical Center, but it was too late and she was pronounced dead by doctors.
The 22-year-old suffered a stab wound to her left shoulder blade, under her armpit and two “defensive” wounds to her left forearm. The little girl had a laceration to her upper chest and suffered third-degree burns on her stomach.
Fire investigators said the injuries are “inconsistent with injuries caused by fire.”
A view of the crime scene Tuesday. Credit: Tom Sofield LevittownNow.com
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Just over two hours after the fire, police began surveillance on Johnson after speaking with friends and family of the victims. They found the maroon Cadillac and pulled it over around 7 p.m. when Johnson went to drive away. He was searched and found to have suspected drugs on him, police said in court papers. A detective noted in court documents the car had a different license plate than the one it was registered to have.
Fire investigators said the start of the blaze appeared to be centered around bedding and clothing it the ground-floor apartment. A reader view exclusively obtained by LevittownNow.com and view by police shows a thick white smoke coming from the windows of apartment 604 in the moments before firefighters arrived.
Police launched a massive investigation in the wake of the murders.
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LevittownNow.com will provide updates throughout the day.
Publisher/Editor Jeff Bohen contributed to this report
Tom Sofield has covered news in Bucks County for 16 years for both newspaper and online publications. Tom’s reporting has appeared locally, nationally, and internationally across several mediums. He is proud to report on news in the county where he lives and to have created a reliable publication that the community deserves.
