Philly man stabbed his wife and mother-in-law to death in Crescentville basement, police say

A 43-year-old Philadelphia man has been charged with murder in the stabbing death of his wife and mother-in-law in the basement of the family’s Crescentville home, police said Thursday.

On Tuesday morning, Alma Barberena, 58, visited her parents at their home on the 6000 block of Bingham Street to help them coordinate a telehealth appointment for her father, who is in declining health, said Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom, head of the department’s homicide unit.

But shortly after she arrived, Ransom said, her husband, Leandro Barberena, followed — armed with a knife.

Barberena then stabbed his wife and her 75-year-old mother, Angela Trejo, multiple times, killing them. Alma Barberena had defensive wounds on her hands, Ransom said.

About two hours later, Ransom said, Leandro Barberena called 911 to report that his relatives had been stabbed. The women were pronounced dead by medics at the scene at 1:45 p.m.

Police identified the man as a suspect fairly quickly, Ransom said, after investigators discovered a bloody glove at the crime scene that matched a glove found inside his home. He also had wounds on his hands, Ransom said, injuries that Barberena told police were the result of his job laying tile.

The motive for the crime remained unclear. There seemed to be an ongoing domestic dispute between him and his wife, Ransom said, but police had not responded to any previous issues at their home. He said there was no active protection-from-abuse order in place for any members of the family.

Barberena was charged with two counts of murder, tampering with physical evidence, and related crimes. He was being held without bail, and court records on Thursday did not indicate that he had hired or been assigned an attorney yet.

The block of Bingham Street where Trejo and Barberena were killed was quiet on a warm and overcast Thursday morning, the only sounds coming from gusts of wind, cars passing, and birds chirping in trees overhead.

Blooming rose bushes adorned the front of the yellow-brick, two-story home Trejo shared with her husband. The house was still and nobody answered the door Thursday morning.

Peggy Catrambone, 75, a neighbor, said she heard a man come out of the house Tuesday afternoon and scream for someone to call 911.

Catrambone, who has lived nearby for more than 40 years, remembered Trejo and her husband as a “loving couple.” For the last few years, the couple had lived there alone with one of their other daughters, and were a “great family,” she said.

”That’s why I’m shocked,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe it was a family member. It was crazy.”

Hector Genova, 62, who also lived on the block, said Barberena would occasionally visit her parents, who he said were peaceful, happy neighbors.

”They were living a great life,” Genova said in Spanish. “You’d never expect something like this.”

Catrambone would sometimes see the couple sitting on the porch, talking to each other or entertaining guests.

”They really cared an awful lot for each other,” she said. “I just can’t get over it.”