A jealous North Philadelphia man arranged to have his ex’s new girlfriend killed, prosecutors said

A North Philadelphia man has been charged with first- and third-degree murder for serving as the mastermind in a murder plot targeting his ex-girlfriend’s new romantic partner, prosecutors in Montgomery County said Friday.

Chong Ling Dan, 50, was arrested Friday afternoon and charged in connection with the death of Ebony Pack, a 30-year-old nurse who was gunned down in November 2020 as she was stopped at a red light in Lansdale. In addition to the murder charges, Dan faces solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to commit murder, after prosecutors say he arranged for two of his friends, Terrence Marche and Ricky Vance, to follow Pack from her home in Feasterville and kill her.

Dan remained in custody, denied bail. There was no indication he had hired an attorney.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said investigators worked hard to piece together the events leading up to Pack’s death.

“Detectives have worked diligently to solve the puzzle of Ebony’s death and the evidence they have uncovered points to Dan, whose anger and jealousy provided the clear motive for the killing of his former girlfriend’s new love interest,” Steele said in a statement.

Pack left behind an 11-year-old daughter. She worked as a nurse caring for COVID patients and was in the process of starting her own home-care business.

» READ MORE: A nurse and mother was shot and killed at a Lansdale intersection. Months later, her family and police still seek answers.

“I just miss her, and this loss affects us in everything we do as a family,” Pack’s mother, Rhonda Pack Terry, told The Inquirer last year.

Pack’s girlfriend told investigators that Dan was verbally and physically abusive to her during their relationship, which ended in July 2020, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. He was angry that she had begun dating Pack.

Dan had given the woman $19,000 to hold for him, and demanded she return the money after their relationship ended, the affidavit said. When the woman returned only $9,000 — having spent the rest — Dan became irate, the document said, and at one point violently confronted her at a gas station in Philadelphia.

During that encounter, Dan threatened Pack, according to the affidavit, telling his ex-girlfriend that he was “gonna fix her.”

Three months later, as Pack was driving to her girlfriend’s house in Lansdale, a car pulled up beside her and opened fire, striking her multiple times. Investigators later traced the vehicle to Vance, 52, who they determined was driving it that night. Vance was arrested in April and charged with first- and third-degree murder.

A witness recently told detectives that he saw Vance and Dan together after the murder and that Vance had assured him police investigating Pack’s death “ain’t gonna find nothin’,” the affidavit said.

Meanwhile, Marche, the alleged gunman, went missing shortly after Vance was arrested, when he boarded a flight to Honduras with Dan, according to court filings. Dan told Marche’s girlfriend that Marche wouldn’t be returning to Philadelphia, the documents said.

A warrant for Marche’s arrest on murder charges has been issued, and prosecutors are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.