Background: A section of the 4600 block of State Road in Upper Darby, Pa. (Google Maps). Inset: Quadir Ford (Upper Darby Township Police Department/WPVI).
A man repeatedly stabbed his mother at her Pennsylvania home before driving off in her vehicle with her phone, authorities say.
Quadir Ford, 20, was charged on Monday with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, criminal homicide, possession of an instrument of crime with intent, theft by unlawful taking, and receiving stolen property, Delaware County court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
On Monday afternoon, officers with the Upper Darby Township Police Department were called to a residence on the 4600 block of State Road in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia. When they arrived, they apparently found a man outside yelling that his mother — 51-year-old Michelle Fleming — was dead.
Officers entered the home, where "it was immediately apparent that she was deceased and suffering from multiple stab wounds," Upper Darby Township Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt said, per area ABC affiliate WPVI.
Fleming had been stabbed 12 times in the chest.
Police investigated the apparent homicide and reportedly learned that Fleming had another son in addition to the one they had seen screaming outside the home — Ford. They learned he had allegedly left his mother's home that day in her car and with her phone.
Officers tracked Ford about 20 miles north to Springfield Township, where they arrested him. When investigators spoke with the suspect, he "admitted to killing his mother with a silver knife after an argument, and then placed the knife, a pair of gloves, and a mask that were utilized during the homicide into a trash can in the rear of the property," according to a criminal complaint obtained by the local TV station.
The defendant reportedly further conceded that he had a strained relationship with his mother.
"The two of them were very accusatory toward each other over the course of the years," Bernhardt told WPVI. "It's a sad, sad state of affairs when family members resort to that type of violence."
Ford is in the Delaware County Prison without bail, and he was scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday evening, court records show. He is expected to return to court on May 19.