N.J. man charged in slaying at Phila. hotel
A 20-year-old man from Bridgeton, N.J., was arrested Monday in connection with the Oct. 30 murder of Patrick Michael Brady at the Omni Hotel in Philadelphia.
A 20-year-old man from Bridgeton, N.J., was arrested Monday in connection with the Oct. 30 murder of Patrick Michael Brady at the Omni Hotel in Philadelphia.
Police said that Richard Collins was charged with criminal conspiracy, theft and abuse of a corpse.
Homicide Sgt. Tim Cooney said that Collins was a friend of Herman Burton, the transgender prostitute who was charged earlier this month with beating and strangling Brady, of Thorndale, Chester County, inside his eighth-floor room at the Old City hotel.
Burton, who identifies himself as a woman named Peaches, invited Collins to hang out in Brady's room after the murder, Cooney said.
Collins, of East Avenue near Marion Street, was shown on hotel surveillance footage arriving at the hotel about 1 a.m. He didn't know about the slaying until he entered Brady's hotel room, Cooney said.
Once inside, he helped Peaches move Brady's body from a bathroom to another part of the hotel room, Cooney said.
The pair partied for about three hours. Collins stole a hotel radio, but didn't take any of Brady's belongings, Cooney said.
A few hours after Collins left the hotel, at 4th and Chestnut streets, Peaches allegedly set fire to Brady's room. Firefighters found the body of the 49-year-old man after they extinguished the small blaze.
Brady, a married father of a 9-year-old daughter, worked as an information-technology specialist for Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Cops apprehended Peaches, who has an extensive criminal history, when they spotted her walking with a man near 12th and Spruce streets a few days after the slaying.
Peaches was carrying Brady's cell phone and credit cards, police said. Criminal charges were filed against her on Nov. 4.
