UPDATED: Teen recants kidnapping, rape

NOTE: THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED.

1 "KIDNAPPED" TEEN RECANTS

The police Special Victims Unit this morning confirmed that a 15-year-old girl who said she was kidnapped at knifepoint yesterday from the Frankford Transportation Center, then raped in a house, ended up recanting her story last night, admitting she made it up.

Sgt. Robert Sutula said the girl recanted her story while being interviewed at the Special Victims Unit. The girl had actually been "out with a male acquaintance," he said. "During her interview, she recanted her report of the rape."

Sutula said police "looked into her story and during her interview, she decided she better come clean."

"She was out with somebody that she knew and she needed a cover story," he said. "She needed to come up with an excuse of where she was at the time."

The girl had told police that she was kidnapped about 3:30 p.m. yesterday at knifepoint from the transportation center by a knife-wielding black man wearing a black hoodie, then blindfolded by a black woman in a red four-door vehicle parked at a nearby McDonald's on Frankford Avenue. She had claimed she was then raped in a house before being dropped off at the same McDonald's.

2 THREE TEMPLE STUDENTS ROBBED

Three Temple University students were robbed at gunpoint yesterday in separate incidents between 12:30 p.m. and 1:15 p.m.

Temple officials said the robberies occurred on Dauphin Street near 15th, Dauphin Street near 13th and Norris Street near 15th. One robber was described as a bearded, light-skinned black man, 5 feet 10 to 6 feet 2, who wore a gray hoodie and dark, puffy vest. The other robber was described as a dark-skinned black man, about 5 feet 5, who wore a dark, puffy coat. In each of the robberies, one of the robbers produced a silver handgun, according to a message sent to students by Temple. Tipsters can contact Philadelphia police at 215-686-3093.

3 MAN SHOT AND KILLED

An unidentified man in his 20s was shot and killed early yesterday morning in East Germantown, police said.

The man was found with a single gunshot wound to his head inside a rowhouse on Collom Street near Lena at 3:29 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene eight minutes later, according to police.

4 POLICE TRACK THIEF TO HIS GRAVE

A bloody handprint left at the scene of a March copper theft led Upper Darby police to Matthew Sproul, 28, of Northeast Philadelphia, after the DNA analysis was returned from a State Police lab Friday, police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. A subsequent check on Sproul's driver's license led police to his grave, Chitwood said. Sproul died of a drug overdose June 19, more than three months after he allegedly stole a substantial amount of copper tubing from a house that was being renovated on Albemarle Avenue near Marshall, in Upper Darby, police said.

SUSPECTS IDENTIFIED IN DOUBLE SLAYING

Police have identified three men who have been charged in connection with a double homicide in Brewerytown last week.

About 2:45 p.m. Wednesday, police found Jemark Glenn Miller Daniel, 24, of Redner Street near 30th, and Petranella London, 24, of Brooklyn, shot to death in Daniel's apartment above the Oxford Mini Market.

Police said robbery was the motive for the shooting, though they have not disclosed what, if anything, was taken. The suspects have been identified as Montez Bethea, 31, of Conlyn Street near 16th, in the Ogontz section; Darryl Rigney, 32, of 17th Street near 65th Avenue, West Oak Lane; and Rashawn James, 32, of 30th Street near Berks Street, Strawberry Mansion.

- Staff and wire reports