14-year-old in custody in slaying of animal rescuer in Northeast Philly

Homicide detectives had a 14-year-old suspect in custody Thursday night in the slaying of a well-known animal rescuer inside his Northeast Philadelphia home, police said.

Police spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp said no charges had been filed and offered no additional description of the suspect. 6ABC reported that the suspect was a girl and had surrendered to police accompanied by an attorney.

Police said that Albert Chernoff, 59, was killed with a blunt weapon around 10:30 p.m. Monday at his home in the 8400 block of Algon Avenue in Rhawnhurst.

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Shortly before 3 a.m. Tuesday, police responded to a report from a neighbor and found Chernoff partially tied to a bed with a massive head wound and several slashing injuries on his chest. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

On Wednesday police released surveillance video — apparently obtained from inside Chernoff’s home — that shows an unidentified person casually walking through the living room and later entering the kitchen to wash hands, and then looking inside the refrigerator and freezer before leaving the house.

The suspect was described as having a medium-brown complexion, tall with a thin build, having short hair, wearing a black jacket, a long-sleeve pink top, loose-fitting red sweatpants, white athletic shoes, and carrying a black backpack.

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Police did not identify the gender of the suspect. Police originally had said a female was seen leaving the house shortly before officers arrived and found the victim’s body.

Chernoff went by the nickname of “Alley Cat,” which he also used as the name of his one-man cat-rescue operation. He appeared on the NATGeoTV reality show Rescue Ink about tattooed bikers campaigning against animal abuse.

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A native of Northeast Philadelphia, he was a longtime city employee and worked as a building maintenance supervisor at Philadelphia International Airport.