PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A dispute between a couple who had recently broken up ended when the man fatally stabbed and slashed the woman more than 30 times, authorities said.
Morgan McCaffery, 18, of Abington, had ended her yearlong relationship with Gilbert Newton III, 18, last month. However, she agreed to meet with the Philadelphia man early Monday at a train station in Abington to talk, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.
Passersby found McCaffery’s body around 8:15 a.m. next to her running car in the station’s parking lot, authorities said. Police were called to Newton’s home about two hours and found him sitting in bloody clothing, prosecutors said.
Newton was charged with first- and third-degree murder and possessing an instrument of crime, and was being held without bail. Defense attorney A. Charles Peruto Jr. called the case “absolutely devastating” for both families, noting that both victim and defendant were young people with good grades and no criminal history.
“Apparently my client completely lost it in a moment’s rage from something that happened in the train station that we have to explore,” Peruto said. “He’s not denying anything. We have to figure out why this happened. I think it’s a case of manslaughter.”
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