Pimp pleads guilty to murder, chopping up body
Keith Tolbert faced jury selection yesterday in his trial in the death of Francis Zarzycki, but instead admitted his wrongdoing.
A PIMP WHO chopped up a man's body with an ax two years ago, then dumped the victim's torso in the Schuylkill, pleaded guilty yesterday to third-degree murder and related charges.
Keith Tolbert, 35, faced trial in the death of Francis Zarzycki, 40, of Somerton, who had been at Tolbert's Center City apartment on Aug. 26, 2013, to have sex with two prostitutes, but died during a struggle when Tolbert and the two women tried to rob him.
Amid jury selection yesterday - five jurors had been picked - Tolbert instead decided to plead guilty to third-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and conspiracy to commit robbery, in a deal in which he is to be sentenced to 22 to 44 years in state prison, Assistant District Attorney Brian Zarallo said.
At the sentencing hearing, scheduled for this morning before Common Pleas Judge J. Scott O'Keefe, Tolbert wants to apologize to the victim's family and disclose to the family where Zarzycki's remaining body parts are, defense attorney Mary Maran said.
About a week after Zarzycki - the son of a retired Philly cop - was murdered, a boater found Zarzycki's butchered torso inside a bag floating in the Schuylkill. His head, arms and legs have not been found.
Zarallo said in court yesterday that about 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 26, 2013, Zarzycki had gone to an apartment on 11th Street near Locust, where Tolbert lived, "for soliciting prostitution and doing drugs" with two women, Angel Weston and Stephanie Foulke.
After Zarzycki left the apartment, Tolbert conspired with the two women to rob Zarzycki. About 5 p.m., Tolbert went to a nearby Walgreens to buy duct tape, the prosecutor said.
About two hours later, Zarzycki returned to the apartment, and then briefly went to his vehicle with Foulke to get drugs. When they returned to the apartment, Tolbert used a Taser to subdue Zarzycki. The victim was struggling, and Tolbert ordered the women to bind him with duct tape, Zarallo said.
Foulke also zapped Zarzycki with the Taser. As the victim lay on his abdomen, with Tolbert sitting on top of him, Zarzycki stopped breathing.
Maran said Tolbert, who was a nursing student at the time, grabbed his stethoscope and tried to revive Zarzycki with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for about five minutes.
He was screaming, "Man, stay with me! Man, stay with me!, Don't die!," according to one of the two women who was there, Maran said.
Zarallo said that after confirming that the victim was no longer breathing, Tolbert then told the two women to leave the apartment, and that he would take care of things. Evidence indicated that Tolbert used an ax to cut up Zarzycki's body in Tolbert's bathtub.
Some time later, Tolbert told the two women, who were staying at the Holiday Inn Express near Penn's Landing, that the victim was in many pieces, in many places, Zarallo said.
Zarallo said afterward that the Medical Examiner's Office was unable to determine the cause of Zarzycki's death because of the state of his recovered remains.
Foulke, 23, and Weston, 22, have pleaded guilty to robbery charges and await sentencing.