Man beat woman to death for 'embarrassing' him, then texted a friend to crash at his place, police say

Background: A section of West Washington Street in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (Google Maps). Inset: Andre Romulus (Chambersburg Police Department).

A man in Pennsylvania is accused of beating a woman to death in an apartment for "embarrassing him" and leaving him to deal with their child.

Andre Romulus, 42, has been charged with criminal homicide, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. Law enforcement began searching for him this past weekend, and he was arrested on Monday.

On Saturday at about 2:20 a.m., the Chambersburg Police Department arrived at a home on West Washington Street in Chambersburg, about 150 miles west of Philadelphia. The first approaching officer was asked by someone to "check the welfare of a female resident," the department said.

The person who made the request knew Romulus and possibly the victim as well. According to an affidavit obtained by PennLive, this man told police that Romulus texted him between 9:30 p.m. on Friday and just before they arrived on Saturday. At about 1:37 a.m., the suspect allegedly messaged that "he won't see him again and to send someone to check on the victim."

Romulus also reportedly told the man that the victim was leaving him and "left him alone with their child," and he was asking for a place to stay the night.

Officers entered the home to find a woman "unconscious, unresponsive," and needing medical assistance, authorities said. She is said to have been lying in a pool of blood on the floor next to a bed after having "sustained severe trauma to the front of her face." Though first responders treated her, she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead.

It is unclear whether a child was also found at the residence.

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A preliminary investigation found that the woman died from blunt force trauma, and police identified Romulus as a suspect in her death. However, he had left the area, and the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force was enlisted to assist the police department in finding him and taking him into custody.

On Monday, they did — locating him in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, about 55 miles northeast of Chambersburg. Upon executing a search warrant for Romulus' apartment, investigators found several messages inside, including that the suspect accused the victim of being "evil" and "embarrassing him," per PennLive. He also allegedly referenced attacking her on a previous occasion.

Romulus is due in Franklin County court for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 30.