2 arrested after allegedly killing teacher in front of her son over romantic affair
04/28/2023 12:27 pm PDT
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pa. (TCD) -- The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office has announced charges against two people accused of killing a 35-year-old teacher in a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru earlier this month.
According to a news release from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, on April 11, Cheltenham Township Police responded to the Melrose Shopping Center to a report of a shooting, where they found Rachel King dead inside her vehicle near the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru lane. At the scene, officials recovered six 9 mm cartridge casings.
Upon further investigation, Montgomery County detectives and Cheltenham Township Police determined Zakkee Alhakim, 33, followed King’s vehicle in a Mercury Sable from her home in Lynnewood Gardens Apartments. According to KYW-TV, King was driving her son to violin practice at the time and stopped at the drive-thru.
While King was in the drive-thru, Alhakim reportedly parked his car nearby, walked to the driver’s side window of King’s vehicle, and allegedly fatally shot her before fleeing to his car and driving away.
Authorities obtained surveillance video that reportedly showed Alhakim’s Mercury Sable and license plate.
In the days leading up to King’s death, the District Attorney’s Office said Alhakim had been outside her home and had "watched her movements."
Alhakim and Julie Jean, 34, allegedly had been plotting King’s fatal shooting since February. Jean reportedly had an affair with King’s longtime boyfriend last year, but he "broke it off." Following the affair, the District Attorney’s Office said Jean "continued to text, call, and harass" both King and her boyfriend, so they obtained a protection from abuse order against Jean.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Jean knew Alhakim because the father of Jean’s children is his cousin. Jean and Alhakim reportedly chatted and met numerous times before the shooting, and Alhakim "saved a screen capture to his phone of a Google map of the victim’s apartment complex, with a pin marking King’s exact residence and a red arrow showing a route to travel directly to the victim’s residence."
The District Attorney’s Office said detectives searched the suspects’ phones, and they had deleted hundreds of text messages prior to Jean’s interview with authorities on April 12. However, authorities were reportedly able to recover the messages and discovered that Jean sent Alhakim money via CashApp on the day of the shooting with an emoji message "that is interpreted to mean 'link up, message me, no phones, that’s it.'"
Officials arrested Jean on charges of first-degree murder, third-degree murder, and conspiracy. She appeared in court and was denied bail.
Prosecutors said Alhakim is also suspected of killing another victim on April 7 in Philadelphia. Alhakim was charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, conspiracy, and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with King’s death. He remains in custody at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia and is awaiting arraignment.
Prior to her death, King reportedly worked as a teacher for Grover Cleveland Elementary School.
In a statement, District Attorney Kevin Steele said, "This cold-blooded killing of Rachel King was a targeted murder of an innocent person, planned by these two defendants and horrifically carried out in front of King’s son. It is a tragic killing of a good person, all because of an ended affair."
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