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Two charged with murder in Northeast Philly case of body parts found in U-Haul

Teray Herring and Jeanette Pace were charged with killing Peter Gerold.

Peter Gerold, whose body was found dismembered inside a U-Haul truck in Northeast Philadelphia on Feb. 11. He was pictured here with his dogs for a 2014 article published in the Chestnut Hill Local.
Peter Gerold, whose body was found dismembered inside a U-Haul truck in Northeast Philadelphia on Feb. 11. He was pictured here with his dogs for a 2014 article published in the Chestnut Hill Local.Read moreCourtesy of Chestnut Hill Local

A man and woman were charged Monday with murder in the death of a Northeast Philadelphia man whose dismembered body parts were found last month in the back of a U-Haul.

Teray Herring, 47, and Jeanette Pace, 42, also were charged with conspiracy and possession of an instrument of crime in the death of Peter Gerold, 70, police said Monday. Herring and Pace have been in custody on earlier charges.

Police found Gerold’s dismembered torso inside a trash bag in the back of the U-Haul truck around 9 a.m. on Feb. 11 after a neighbor called about a burglary in progress at Gerold’s 1½-story home on the 1000 block of Sanibel Street in Somerton.

Police later searched dumpsters behind a strip mall near Gerold’s home, finding more body parts, including hands and feet that had been deep-fried.

Police said investigators received DNA results matching items taken from Gerold’s house and to samples from the recovered body parts confirming Gerold’s identity. Police have not said how Gerold was killed.

Herring allegedly was a passenger in the U-Haul when it was stopped by police. The driver of the truck, a 43-year-old man, told officers he was merely giving a friend a ride.

“I don’t want anything to do with this,” he said, according to police, “and there’s a body in the back.”

Herring was charged with abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence for allegedly dismembering Gerold’s body with a saw, according to a law enforcement source, deep-frying parts of it, and disposing of the body in the U-Haul and in trash bins. He was also charged with burglary and related offenses in the theft of items from Gerold’s home.

Pace, described as Herring’s former girlfriend, and Rafique McNichols, 39, were charged with burglary and related offenses for allegedly stealing items from Gerold’s house. Pace and McNichols, described as Pace’s boyfriend at the time, are both from Ventnor.

Pace also was charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in the taking of Gerold’s Ford Expedition, which was found by police in Ventnor near the apartment where the couple lived.