UPDATED (7:12 p.m.): A 23-year-old West Philly resident has been charged in the murder of a teenager whose body was found in an alley on the 200 block of South 49th Street earlier this week.

Police say Cole Herring led them to the body of 15-year-old Sabriyah McLean on Tuesday morning. Herring’s parents convinced him to turn himself in to police after he told them about the alleged murder. McLean, who turned 15 in October, was from Delaware, and her parents had reported her missing, according to police.

Herring, who lives in an apartment building near where McLean’s body was found, reportedly met her online.  Continue Reading

A woman’s body was found late Tuesday morning on the 200 block of S. 49th Street, according to police. A suspect has been arrested in connection with the murder.

Police told 6ABC Action News that the suspect told his parents that he had killed the unidentified woman. He reportedly directed police to an alley where the body was found. The suspect, who is reportedly the victim’s boyfriend, lives in the apartment building near where the body was found. A police source said that the victim’s body was set on fire after she was killed.

The motive is currently unknown and the names of neither the victim nor the suspect have been released. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Former Apple Storage facility at 780 S. 52nd St (Google Street View image).

The real estate development firm Post Brothers has bought the long vacant Apple Storage facility on South 52nd Street and plans to build a 153-unit residential building.

Philly.com reported that the Post Brothers, which has acquired several buildings in recent years including The Netherlands at 4300 Chestnut, Hamilton Court at 3800 Chestnut, and Garden Court Plaza, paid $2.4 million for the hulking shell at 780 S. 52nd St., a couple blocks south of Baltimore Avenue. That price reflects the fact that the zoning approval had already been granted in 2012 for “Apple Lofts,” a residential housing proposal that drew mostly praise but prompted discussions about gentrification.

A zoning permit approved last week expanded the proposed project from 112 to 153 units and commercial space. The original zoning permit also includes 92 “accessory” parking spaces.  Continue Reading

Mayor Jim Kenney told the audience gathered for the Spruce Hill Community Association annual meeting last night that the city would likely to have a handful of serious proposals for the old Provident Mutual Insurance building at 4601 Market St. by early January.

His administration cancelled plans in May to move the police headquarters to the building, opting instead for the old Philadelphia Inquirer building at 400 N. Broad St. Those plans were devised during the administration of Michael Nutter.

The city has received several requests for quotation (RFQ) on the property. These are narrative proposals of what would be done with the property. Those proposals range from commercial and retail to medical and educational. All propose a mix of uses for the property. Kenney said the RFQs are private and he could not provide specific details on any of them.  Continue Reading

Police have arrested two suspects for the violent attack and robbery of a male Penn graduate student on Nov. 5 on the 400 block of South 43rd Street. The 26-year-old victim was beaten with a brick during the robbery and suffered serious head injuries, including a fractured skull, according to police.

Twenty-year-old Lance Ryan was arrested Thursday and charged with robbery and assault. Dajuan Dantzler, 18, was arrested Friday after he turned himself in, according to reports. He was also charged with robbery and assault, according to police.

A second suspect in the shooting death of West Philly community activist Winnie Harris has been arrested, according to a report by Philly.com. Police arrested 31-year-old Isaiah Reels, 31, at a home in Southwest Philadelphia on Thursday.

A well-known community advocate and executive director of UC Green, Winnie Harris was found shot to death at her home in West Powelton on February 3, 2017 in, what police believe, a case of mistaken identity. She was 65.

Another suspect, 39-year-old Nelson Giddings, was arrested last month, and police also named Reels as a second suspect and issued an arrest warrant for him in October. Police believe Giddings and Reels may have targeted a different residence, but broke into Harris’s home on the 300 block of North Holly Street late on Feb. 2 and shot her when she confronted them. Harris was found dead in her home the following day.