Four years after killing his former friend, a Delco man is sentenced to life in prison

Mark Laird and Reuben Rosado knew each other for years. Their families were close, both carving out their lives in the southern tip of Delaware County.

Whatever bond the families had was a distant memory this month, when they met for what is likely the final time in a courtroom. Emotions were high and thinly veiled threats were exchanged as Laird, 22, was sentenced to life in prison for executing his former friend in a secluded patch of woods behind a trailer park.

Reuben “Kenny” Rosado, of Chester, was 15 when prosecutors say he was shot in the head in Henry Johnson Park in Trainer in March 2022. After a three-day trial in January, jurors took less than an hour to convict Laird, a Boothwyn native, of murder, finding that he lured his former friend to his death under the guise of giving him a gun.

Delaware County Judge Deborah Krull said nothing she could do would restore the Rosado’s family loss as she handed down Laird’s life sentence for first-degree murder on March 12, as well as an additional 3½ to 7 years for gun possession and related crimes.

Prosecutors described the killing as a tragedy: Two kids caught up in carrying guns and stealing cars, not grasping the seriousness of what they were doing.

Deputy District Attorney Laurie Moore said Laird had a long history of violent crime in his short life, including juvenile adjudications of delinquency for assault, burglary and armed robbery, and had rejected opportunities and resources that might have helped him.

“The defendant’s criminal history would be horrifying for someone of the age of 40,” Moore said. “And he was at the age of 18 and continued to make these choices.”

But Laird’s attorney, Ryan Grace, rejected that theory of the case. He asserted that Laird was a patsy, set up by members of a criminal ring both teens were involved with who spread false information to the community and investigators.

Grace said he plans to appeal Laird’s conviction, saying he was not given a fair trial — evidence was withheld, he said, and jurors were prejudiced by “videos and photos shoved into their faces over objection.”

During the trial, teens who know Laird testified that he spoke openly about the killing. He told them he was “carrying a burden,” and provided great detail about the shooting and the steps he had taken to cover his actions, including burning the clothes he had worn that day.

He even discussed the motive, they said.

Weeks earlier, Laird had pressured Rosado to steal a car, according to the testimony. When Rosado was later arrested for that crime, Laird was convinced Rosado had ratted him out to police.

While selling drugs behind a Wawa in Linwood on March 16, 2022, Laird ran into Rosado, according to the testimony. He promised to give him a gun he had stashed behind a trailer park in Trainer.

When the two arrived, Laird told Rosado to retrieve it, and shot him in the head as the younger teen’s back was turned to him. Cell phone records presented at trial showed that the two were together in the area just before the fatal shot was fired.

In an emotional letter read aloud in court by Moore, Rosado’s mother, Abigail, said Laird’s betrayal of their family was a “separate wound on top of the loss.”

“Reuben didn’t just die; this wasn’t a sudden accident,” she wrote. “Reuben was lured, tricked into a place whare he was vulnerable, and he was executed.”

“What makes it even more unbearable was that Mark was a friend of the family,” she said. “He was not a stranger. He was someone we knew, someone we never would have believed would do something like that.”

Laird did not speak at the sentencing, nor testify at his trial. His attorney says he continues to maintain his innocence.