A West Philly man fatally stabbed a woman who had a protective order against him, police say
Raymond Thompson, 34, is accused of fatally stabbing Ashley Lockhart, 32, inside a van in West Philadelphia on Saturday, police said.
A 34-year-old West Philadelphia man has been charged with murder for fatally stabbing a 32-year-old woman who had a protection-from-abuse order against him, authorities said Monday.
Raymond Thompson was being held without bail after turning himself in over the weekend, police said. He is accused of stabbing Ashley Lockhart several times inside a Honda Odyssey on the 5300 block of Chestnut Street around 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
Thompson told detectives he stabbed Lockhart because he believed she’d been cheating on him, according to law enforcement sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. Thompson told detectives that after he stabbed Lockhart — who had been in the van’s passenger seat — he took the Market-Frankford line to Kensington to use heroin before he called police to turn himself in, sources said.
It was not clear when Lockhart obtained the protection-from-abuse order against Thompson, why she had sought it, or what its conditions were. Joanne Pescatore, homicide chief in the District Attorney’s Office, said at a news conference Monday that she believed that Thompson and Lockhart were still living together, but that Lockhart “obviously did the right thing” by seeking help from the courts in obtaining the order.
A GoFundMe established for Lockhart’s six children said Lockhart was “an amazing mother” who “devoted her time, energy, and made sacrifices for [her children] that they will forever remember.” A relative of Lockhart’s, reached by phone Monday, did not want to talk about the case.
Thompson had several past convictions for crimes including drug offenses, according to court records. Most recently, in 2018, he was sentenced to 6 to 23 months in jail after pleading guilty to charges including risking a catastrophe and resisting arrest. In that case, court records say, Thompson broke free from police as they tried to arrest him for a drug violation at 15th and Market Streets, then jumped onto train tracks in an attempt to escape.
Thompson on Monday did not have an attorney listed in his murder case, court records show. He is scheduled to return to court later this week.
As violence in the city has surged over the last two years, women have increasingly been among the victims. At least 70 women were slain in the city in 2021, police statistics show, the highest annual total in at least 14 years.
District Attorney Larry Krasner said Monday that he was not sure why the proportion of women being killed was on the rise. As for Lockhart’s killing, he called the case “extremely sad, and very, very troubling.”