Credit: Falls police
A Falls Township woman found dead in her apartment on January 6 was strangled, authorities revealed this week.
Prosecutors allege that 39-year-old Middletown resident Jeffrey Allen Stafford strangled his aunt, Alisa Wilson, inside her Pennsbury Woods apartment at least a day before police found her lifeless body. An autopsy performed by the Bucks County Coroner’s Office revealed Wilson died of blunt force trauma to her neck and asphyxiation about 24 to 48 hours before her body was found.
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During a preliminary hearing this week for Stafford, prosecutors made the case that Stafford was behind the homicide. The motive was not clearly laid out during the hearing but Stafford, a heroin addict, did make off with Wilson’s 2009 Chrysler 300 that she rarely ever let him touch.
Stafford’s friend Philip Benckert testified at the hearing. He reportedly went to police on the evening of January 6 and told police he believe Stafford has killed Wilson. Officers responded to Wilson’s apartment and found her body on the floor.
After a back-and-forth with Stafford’s court-appointed defense attorney Keith Williams, Assistant District Attorney Matt Weintraub was allowed to admit video and audio recordings of Stafford allegedly talking about the crime. The recordings were made by Benckert on the evening Wilson’s body was found. Weintraub said the video and audio files were legally recorded due to a recent exception in the state wiretapping law that allows for unauthorized recording without two-party consent if there is the belief a violent felony has or is about to be committed.
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The Bucks County Courier Times reported one of the recordings included a man alleged to be Stafford saying, “”it’s not as easy to snap a person’s neck.”
The recordings were made while Stafford and Benckert were heading to pawn some of Wilson’s items.
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According to an affidavit of probable cause, Benckert told detectives Stafford told him he believed he may have given Wilson, who was in her 60s, too many sleeping pills.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Weintraub said in an interview after the preliminary hearing that Stafford has not told police his motive for the alleged murder.
Stafford was arrested about 45 minutes after police found Wilson’s body. He was collared in the area of Vermillion Way and Vermont Lane in Falls’ Levittown section. He was taken into custody after reportedly being spotted in the Chrysler 300.
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Police said Stafford was found to have 14 packages of heroin that were stamped “Pit Bull” on him when he was arrested.
“This is the first case, I believe, that this exemption to the wiretap law has been used in Bucks County, Weintraub told LevittownNow.com.
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At the conclusion of Wednesday’s preliminary hearing, District Judge Jan Vislosky forwarded charges including criminal homicide, theft, possession of a controlled substance and receiving stolen property to Doylestown for trial. Charges of robbery were dismissed and the prosecution withdrew a burglary charge.
Stafford is being held in the Bucks County Correctional Facility without bail.
