DNA links teenager to slaying

A 17-year-old Lindenwold resident charged with killing a Cherry Hill woman in March was linked to the crime through DNA evidence collected after the youth pleaded guilty to an unrelated sexual assault, prosecutors said.

The juvenile appeared Tuesday in Family Court for a detention hearing related to the murder charge.

Superior Court Judge Angelo DiCamillo ordered him held without bail in the Camden County Youth Detention Center in Gloucester Township.

Prosecutors say the juvenile fatally stabbed Rasheedah McEady, a 39-year-old mother of three, in March in the bedroom of her home on Perot Avenue in Cherry Hill.

The juvenile was known to McEady, but neither homicide investigators nor members of her family would comment on the connection.

Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Diane Marano said her office would ask that the murder charge be transferred to adult court. A ruling on that request could take months.

Defense attorney John Underwood said he would fight the transfer.

Underwood said his client had "owned up to the earlier (sexual assault) charges since day one," but added the youth has maintained his innocence in the McEady case.

"We ask that no one rush to judgment," Underwood said.

McEady was killed at some point overnight March 22 into March 23, authorities said.

A 17-year-old boy who was a friend of one of McEady's daughters was spending the night in the home the night McEady was killed, authorities said. He was referred to in police reports as the person who discovered McEady's body when she failed to turn off an alarm clock.

McEady also had been sexually assaulted, authorities disclosed this week. No charges have been filed in connection with that sexual assault.

Within the last month, the juvenile now in custody pleaded guilty to an unrelated sexual assault. Details of that case were not released.

The sentence for that offense included time in Capital Academy, a residential treatment facility in Pennsylvania geared toward sex offenders. The boy was scheduled to report there this week.

Underwood had asked DiCamillo to permit the youth to begin the program at Capital Academy.

"I doubt they would accept a child charged with murder. We can't keep it a secret from them," DiCamillo said.

Members of the McEady family filled a row in the courtroom at Tuesday's detention hearing.

McEady's sister, Ramona McEady Jones of Lindenwold, said the family knew the suspect and were "not so shocked" to learn he was charged with the killing.

"I feel relieved he's off the street," she said.

"I want people to remember my sister," she added. "I don't want people concentrating on him, on what he did."

McEady operated Jump For Joy Family Day Care in Lindenwold. The person who answered the phone there Tuesday declined to comment.