Philly man convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing and dismembering trans woman Dominique ‘Rem’mie’ Fells in 2020

A Philadelphia man was convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, a transgender woman, more than 40 times before dismembering her body and dumping it into the Schuylkill in 2020, authorities said Monday.

Akhenaton Jones, 41, now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole in the June 2020 crime. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September, court records show.

A previous trial for Jones in December ended in a mistrial, when the jury could not agree whether he was guilty of first-degree murder and possessing an instrument of crime. The jury did, however, find Jones guilty of abuse of corpse.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner vowed to retry Jones and after a second trial last week, a jury found Jones guilty of all charges: first-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime, and abuse of corpse.

Jones, who represented himself in both trials, intends to appeal the guilty verdict, said Walter Chisholm, a court-appointed lawyer working alongside Jones.

On June 8, 2020, the upper part of Fells’ body was pulled from the Schuylkill near Bartram’s Garden, authorities said. Her head and face had signs of trauma. Three days later, her legs, which had been stuffed into a garbage bag, were recovered from the river.

Investigators later spoke to witnesses who said they were gathered with Jones and Fells at Jones’ house on the 3900 block of Powelton Avenue on June 6 when Fells went into Jones’ bedroom, prosecutors said.

Jones and Fells had been friends for three or four years, Chisholm said, and the two had been intimate in the past.

When the friends returned to the house that day, prosecutors said, they found Fells dead, covered in blood on a bed.

Investigators obtained a search warrant for Jones’ house and found the house covered in blood splatter, and a knife, electric saw, and white hazmat suit drenched in blood, prosecutors said.

Surveillance footage later reviewed by authorities showed Jones taking a trash can and trash bag out of the house and loading them into a white van, prosecutors said. Jones could be seen driving the white van to the river in surveillance footage, authorities said.

An arrest warrant was issued for Jones that month, but Jones had fled the state; he was captured in November 2020, in Los Angeles, prosecutors said.

Jones insists that he did not kill Fells, Chisholm said. He said another man killed her and then forced him to help dispose of her body, the lawyer said. The jury did not believe that.

Jones’ conviction brought some closure to Fells’ family.

“The verdict last Monday brought justice for our daughter, Dominique ‘Rem’mie,’ but it doesn’t take away the pain of losing her,” her mother, Terri Fells-Edmonds, said Monday. “Dominique’s life mattered, and we will continue to honor her memory every day.”

Crimes against the LGBTQ community, including murder and assault, are not recognized as hate crimes under Pennsylvania law. In 2014, Philadelphia passed legislation that recognizes attacks based on gender identity or sexual orientation as hate crimes.

At least 32 people from the transgender and gender-expansive communities were killed last year, according to the Human Rights Campaign.