Looking for a reason

27152282

A trail of small blood droplets leads from the front steps of the home Richard Cole shared with his wife of 15 years Adelaide Walker to the street a few feet away. A gruesome reminder of a tragedy between neighbors and friends Monday on the 1300 block of Hicks Street with a 53-year-old dead and her 35-year-old friend and next-door neighbor Andre Allen charged with her murder.

With wounds to her chest, abdomen and hands, Walker staggered outside her dwelling and ran to a neighbor’s house across the street, Cole and the victim’s 25-year-old son Eugene Walker told the Review Tuesday afternoon. Hours after the 1:30 a.m. knifing, police arrested Allen.

"Loving, kind-hearted," is how Cole remembered Walker. "She would give you the shirt off her back. She was a beautiful woman."

Allen was charged with murder and related offenses, and, according to a homicide source familiar with the case, the victim was able to tell police responding to the scene who knifed her.

Eugene, who lives on 26th Street not far from his mother and stepfather, is coping as best he can, as are two siblings, George, 28, and Cheryl, 31, who live outside South Philly.

"I feel bad, crying, I want my mom back," Eugene said. "She was a good woman, amazing. She always took care of us, she took care of everybody all the time," Walker said.

But the suspect’s mother Amy Allen and Andre’s stepfather Michael McCorey said they don’t know what happened that evening because their boy, who is "slow" and requires medication on a daily basis, is a good son, definitely not a violent person and a religious man who attends church every Sunday and studies the Bible at home. "Everybody likes him. Nice and lovable. He’s on medication and he needs supervision all the time," Allen said.

According to the two, Andre spent a lot of time with Adelaide socializing and they were very close. The victim and suspect were the only two at Adelaide’s dwelling the evening her life ended, both families said.

"They friends, he’d be over there. So this is just a tragedy. I don’t know what happened," Allen said, adding she considered Adelaide a friend, too.

Around 1:30 a.m. Monday, police banged on Allen’s door looking for Andre. After he opened the door, police pointed a gun at McCorey, he said, and told him to lay on the ground and put his hands behind his head.

"About seven cops stepped over me and went to look in his room," the stepfather who raised Andre since he was a toddler said. The couple told the Review they had gone to bed and their son was out. "We didn’t know where he was," Allen added.

According to a homicide detective, Andre was later found by police in the neighborhood and taken into custody.

Moments before police showed up at the Allens, Walker had been rushed to Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where she was pronounced dead at 1:58 a.m. Eugene was there when doctors broke the news. "And from there, hurts, very bad," he said.

Almost 24 hours to the minute prior and to the east, a young man was shot to death on the 800 block of Ellsworth Street in what police are calling a robbery.

Beau Zabel, 23, from the 900 block of Ellsworth, took a fatal bullet to the left side of his neck at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Officer Jill Russell of the Police Public Affairs Unit said.

A passerby found Zabel lying on a sidewalk and called police. A medic pronounced him dead at the scene at 1:45 a.m. Police cited robbery as the motive since the victim’s pockets had been rummaged through and were turned out when he was found. At a Tuesday press conference, Homicide Capt. James Clark said the victim’s iPod had been taken.

Zabel’s killer is on the loose and police have no suspect(s).

The victim had moved to Philadelphia in early May from Minnesota to be a Philadelphia Teaching Fellow while he earned a master’s degree at Drexel University. Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry T. Jordan released the following statement Monday, calling the murder a "sad day" for the profession and children of this city: "Philadelphia needs people like Beau Zabel — young adults with bright futures who have a sense of responsibility, who want to contribute something of value to the world and who choose to teach, to inspire and to be role models for our children. Zabel’s desire to bring his tremendous talents to our students is a testament to the kind of young man he must have been because it takes strength, compassion and dedication to come here to teach children so far from his home in Minnesota. His death leaves this city poorer because of the many lives he would inevitably have touched and perhaps changed, as a result of his work in public education.

"Zabel’s untimely death is yet another wake-up call to the city’s leaders to do everything within their power to improve safety on our streets and in our schools. On behalf of the PFT’s 16,000 teachers and school support employees with whom Zabel would have worked this fall, the PFT sends condolences to his family, whose grief is unimaginable."

When the Review contacted the Starbucks at Fourth and South streets, where Zabel worked and from where he was walking home when the crime occurred, the manager referred us to corporate headquarters in Seattle, which issued this statement: "We are aware that a Starbucks partner (employee) has passed away as a result of an incident that took place early Sunday morning. Our deepest sympathy goes to the family and friends of the partner."

To report information on Zabel’s slaying, call the Homicide Division at 215-686-3334/5.

In addition, the Citizens Crime Commission is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for Zabel’s death.

To be eligible for the reward, information must be called in to the commission tipline and callers must receive a code number from a live operator. Callers can remain anonymous. Call 215-546-TIPS.

Contact Staff Writer Lorraine Gennaro at lgennaro@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.