Credit: Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
A Philadelphia man who killed a mother who was pregnant in Bristol Township recently admitted to murdering her in a fit of rage.
Jaleel Lamar Loper, 30, confessed to detectives last Wednesday as part of a plea agreement that he used a cell phone charger’s cord to strangle Anna Angok, 29, inside her residence in the Glen Hollow Apartments off Newportville Road in Bristol Township’s Croydon section on September 26, 2018. She was pregnant at the time.
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Angok’s 2-year-old daughter was in the apartment in tears while her mother’s lifeless body was nearby as an apartment complex maintenance worker tried to revive her.
On Wednesday, Bucks County Judge Gary Gilman accepted a negotiated deal between Loper and prosecutors where he pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, third-degree murder of an unborn child, and two counts of stalking, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
Gilman sentenced Loper to 39 to 78 years in state prison.
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Angok’s foster parents and her friends described the mother as vibrant, funny, and smart.
Angok moved to the U.S. from Sudan, a country torn apart by war, when she was 12 as a refugee. Her foster father said she was looking for a better life and safety.
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“Anna’s death created so much sorrow – a sorrow that will be carried for a lifetime – for Anna’s daughter, for Anna’s family, for Anna’s friends and community,” a family friend said.
The court was told that Angok became a medical assistant to help others.
“This is a terrible tragedy,” District Attorney Matt Weintraub said in a statement following the sentencing. “The defendant will be behind bars until he’s at least 70 years old. He is paying a costly price for murdering Ms. Anna Angok and her unborn child.”
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“I only hope that Mr. Loper’s plea and acceptance of responsibility, will allow Ms. Angok’s family the ability to grieve and move forward without being further intertwined with from the criminal justice process.”
Credit: Tom Sofield and Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
Loper and Angok had dated, and evidence obtained showed a fractured relationship leading up to the murder. Over the course of a month, Loper sent close to 100 messages from different numbers to Angok, authorities said.
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Angok died of strangulation. Her body was found with black and blue bruising around her neck and abrasions, according to an autopsy.
A call to 9-1-1 after the murder summoned police to the apartment. It was determined that Loper made the call while disguising his voice.
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Loper told investigators in 2018 that he had been arguing with Angok in the days leading up to her murder.
According to court records, Loper was on state parole after being released from prison following the 2013 robbing of a Walmart in Delaware County. Landamia said Loper was living in a halfway house in Philadelphia at the time of the homicide.
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In August 2019, prosecutors filed paperwork to pursue the death penalty against Loper.
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