Katherine Emel, inset, placed a GPS tracker in the car her boyfriend was driving and gave his location to the people who later murdered him on Jan. 20, 2024, in Norristown, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia, cops say. This surveillance video shows Damon Brantley Jr. allegedly shooting William Carter. (Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office)
A woman placed a GPS tracker in the car her boyfriend was driving and gave his location to one of the men who later robbed and murdered him, according to prosecutors in Pennsylvania.
Katherine Emel, 29, turned herself in on Wednesday and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office charged her with second-degree murder, robbery and conspiracy in the death of her boyfriend William Carter. Damon Brantley Jr., 18, Daquan Allen, 29, and Jerry Butler, 28, along with a juvenile are accused of committing the armed robbery and murder of Carter. Brantley is the alleged shooter.
Police in Norristown, a suburb of Philadelphia, responded to a shots fired call just before 8 p.m. on Jan. 20. They found Carter suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. Paramedics pronounced him dead on the scene.
Cops found three 9 mm shell casings near Carter’s body. He did not have any cash or cellphone on him, suggesting he had been robbed. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, investigators later found that his cellphone was on the move for nearly three hours after his murder. Detectives later learned he was visiting his 1-year-old daughter at her mother Tiara James’ home in Norristown just before his murder. The child’s mother told detectives she asked him to place a $20 sports bet. She said she only had $17 in cash and asked Carter for the other $3.
He said he’d have to run out to his car to get the cash. Surveillance video showed Carter go to the car, reach inside and grab something before he walked back to the home. That’s when Brantley, Butler and the juvenile ran out of a Toyota RAV4 parked behind Carter’s vehicle, according to the affidavit. Brantley reportedly slammed Carter up against the wall and reached into Carter’s pockets as the juvenile and Butler held him down, prosecutors allege. Brantley then pointed a firearm with an extended magazine at Carter and fired three shots in quick succession, which made police believe the gun had an illegal “switch” installed making it automatic, the affidavit said.
One of the shots hit Carter and he fell. The suspects then ran back to the RAV4 with Allen serving as the getaway driver, detectives say.
From left: Damon Brantley, Jr., Daquan Allen and Jerry Butler allegedly robbed and murdered a man in Norristown, Pennsylvania. The man’s girlfriend, Katherine Emel, gave the suspects his location and told them he had recently won a $3,000 parlay, according to investigators. (Montgomery County District Attorney)
At around 3 a.m. on Jan. 21, cops receive a call about a RAV4 on fire. The first responding officer saw a man in dark clothing flee the scene. Detectives believe Brantley doused the car in gasoline and lit it ablaze to conceal evidence. The RAV4 had been stolen four days before the murder at a high school basketball game that Brantley reportedly attended.
Investigators discovered a video showing a passenger getting out of the car the day it was stolen. The passenger told them a woman — later identified as Brantley’s girlfriend — had given them a ride. A search of the girlfriend’s apartment proved fruitful. They found several 9 mm cartridges, the same used in Carter’s murder, along with the extended magazine detectives believe was attached to the weapon.
At first, Emel denied any involvement. However, the fact that she deleted her call history prior to Jan. 3 raised detectives’ suspicions. She also admitted that she had placed an Apple AirTag in the truck of the car, which was actually hers, but Carter had been driving. Emel also later told detectives that she “heard from an acquaintance” that Allen could have been involved. She denied any relationship with him, but said Allen had previously supplied cocaine to Carter, the affidavit said.
A deeper dive into Allen’s cellphone showed he and Emel exchanged 14 calls around the time of the murder, according to investigators. The juvenile spoke with detectives and said he had heard part of Emel and Allen’s conversations. She allegedly told Allen that Carter had recently won a “parlay” worth about $3,000. She also reportedly gave Allen the location where Carter was going to be the night of the murder.
Allen and Emel met at a Philadelphia gas station the night of the murder where he allegedly gave her $700 and told her he had his “young bucks” kill Carter, the affidavit said. The juvenile also heard Allen tell Emel “Yo, I know this is a lot right know but you know about this,” Allen said, according to the affidavit. “So, I know cooperating wouldn’t really be in your best interest. Cause you’ll be looking at, if not more time than any of us would be, cause you’re the one who gave us the information.””
Prosecutors more or less agreed with that sentiment.
“When you assist other people in committing a dangerous felony like robbery and the target of the robbery is murdered, then under the law, you are responsible for their murder as well,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said in a press release. “In this case, this defendant is charged with second-degree murder, which is a homicide that occurs during the commission of a felony.”
Detectives issued arrest warrants for Brantley, Allen and Butler for first-degree murder, robbery and other charges. The U.S. Marshals arrested the trio in upstate New York on Jan. 31. They’ve since been extradited back to Montgomery County. All four suspects are at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility without bond. They have a court date scheduled for Feb. 16.
James told Philadelphia CBS affiliate KYW that she’s devastated her daughter will grow up without a father.
“He worked, he did whatever his family wanted him to do, driving his nieces or nephews around,” James said. “Just needing someone to talk to. He was not in the streets. He was a good dude.”
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