IT'S UNCLEAR from court testimony who put the white towel over Lauren Fenningham's head - perhaps it was her killer, or perhaps the person who found her - but it was someone who knew that few could handle seeing what had happened to her young body.
Darren Williams, 26, is on trial in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court this week for the murders of Fenningham, 18, and Sean Neal, 23, inside Neal's house on Sebring Road near Shelly in Northeast Philadelphia on Aug. 6, 2013. Williams faces the death penalty if convicted by Judge Steven Geroff, who is presiding over the bench trial.
Neal, who was shot once in the abdomen, died hours after the shooting at Aria Health's Torresdale hospital. Fenningham never had a chance of surviving. She died instantly from a shotgun wound to her head.
Philadelphia Police Crime Scene Unit Officer Gary Guaraldo, who testified yesterday, said investigators found Fenningham on the couch with a towel draped over her face. Blood covered the carpeting, and hair and brain matter plastered the walls.
"A lot of blood. A lot of brain matter. A lot of hair," he said.
The shotgun blast was so powerful it sent a large piece of Fenningham's skull onto the dining room table, Guaraldo said.
The victims' families had trouble holding back their agony as Guaraldo described the gruesome scene.
Medical Examiner Albert Chu said Fenningham lost so much blood, they had to use her liver to perform toxicology reports. Both Fenningham and Neal had PCP in their systems, Chu said.
A witness who lived with Neal said that just hours before the slayings, Williams was in the victim's house showing off a sawed-off shotgun. The man testified that Williams asked him if he wanted to "catch a lick," or rob someone, but he declined.
As Williams, whose nickname is "Buddha," was escorted out of the courtroom, he flashed a peace sign to his supporters.
The trial is to continue today.
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