Second suspect arrested in Pottstown double murder
The arrest of Deonte Kelly, 23, of Philadelphia, was announced Tuesday night after Kelly turned himself in to police.
Authorities have made a second arrest in the double murder of two Pottsgrove High School students that occurred on Oct. 17 near the intersection of Fourth and Johnson streets in what court records suggest was a marijuana deal gone wrong.
The arrest of Deonte Kelly, 23, of Philadelphia, was announced Tuesday night after Kelly turned himself in to police at about 6:30 p.m.
Kelly was being sought for the murders of Skyler Fox, 17, and Brendan Bacote-Byer, 18, who, according to the police investigation, were meeting Kelly and Dominic Carboni to sell them marijuana, police said.
On Oct. 20, four days after the shooting, police arrested Carboni, 17, of Schwenksville, for first-degree murder and robbery charges and identified Kelly as a person potentially at the scene of the shooting.
On Friday, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Kelly, also known as "Taz."
Carboni was identified and tracked through a combination of cell phone records and video surveillance. Similarly, Kelly was shown to be at the location of the murder and connected to Carboni through mobile phone and Snapchat records, according to court documents.
Prior to the meeting that ended in the killings, Carboni drove his father's maroon pickup truck to pick up Kelly and drove to the meetup location, according to the district attorney's office.
The phone records indicated that before the shootings, Kelly was in a residence in the Bright Hope community in Pottstown and that he returned there afterward, court documents indicate. The morning after the shootings, phone records showed Kelly returning to Philadelphia, where he remained.
An affidavit indicated Kelly has "an extensive criminal history," including convictions for assault, receiving stolen property, and reckless endangerment.
In addition to the murder charges, Kelly was wanted on five criminal warrants out of Pottstown on charges of simple and aggravated assault, strangulation, robbery, and "persons not to possess a firearm," according to the affidavit of probable cause filed in Carboni's arrest.
In addition Kelly is wanted on outstanding warrants by state police in Skippack for fleeing or attempting to elude police, Norristown Police Department for aggravated assault, North Coventry Police Department for simple assault and Montgomery County Adult Probation for a probation violation, according to the district attorney's office.
Kelly is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, third-degree murder and robbery. He was in the process of being arraigned when the arrest was announced at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and a preliminary hearing will be scheduled at that time.
Kelly will be remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility as no bail is available for first-degree murder charges.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Scott Frank Frame and Samantha Arena.