Judge finds son guilty of murdering parents in '97

A Common Pleas judge yesterday convicted Matthew Zimmerman of first-degree murder and weapons offenses in the 1997 shooting deaths of his parents, who sold jewelry from their Society Hill home.

Judge Shelley Robins New announced her verdict in the nonjury trial a half-hour after hearing closing arguments.

In the courtroom gallery, the defendant's sister, Michelle Zimmerman, a Philadelphia police dispatcher, lowered her head, shook it, and cried.

Matthew Zimmerman, 34, blinked his eyes after the verdicts were announced, but otherwise did not show any emotion. He will get life in prison when he is sentenced June 5.

Police found the bodies of Zimmerman's parents, Richard, 54, and Patricia, 45, in the dining room of their townhouse on South Street near Front, in the early morning of Feb 4, 1997. Each died of a gunshot wound to the head.

Nina DiTroia, Patricia's sister, said amid tears after the verdict: "I'm happy with the decision that the judge made. I feel the investigation was done thoroughly. . . . It all seems to lead up to this person, Matthew, who was found guilty of what he did to my sister, Patti. May she rest in peace. May I see her in heaven."

Michelle Zimmerman, 37, who sat on the defense side of the courtroom with her father's sisters, did not want to comment after the verdict. She left crying.

Assistant District Attorney Richard Sax said in his closing argument that Zimmerman hated his mother, calling her a "whore," and that he stole from his father.

What Zimmerman wanted were his parents' assets, which he believed totaled about $1 million, including their life-insurance policies, South Street home, and numerous coins and jewels, Sax said.

So, on the night of Saturday, Feb. 1, when South Street is loud and noisy with people, motorcycles and cars, Matthew Zimmerman, then 24, got his parents to open their door, Sax argued.

The Zimmermans had an elaborate security system and would let only friends, family and longtime customers inside their home.

They let their estranged son in because "you never give up on your son," Sax told the judge.

During the trial, which began March 7, friends who were close to Matthew Zimmerman testified that he didn't get along with his parents, was seen with a .45-caliber pistol, and wanted them to give him an alibi the weekend before their bodies were found, Sax said.

The murder case had gone cold until a drug dealer, Carmen Monica, tipped off homicide detectives in 2002 to Matthew Zimmerman. Then in September 2003, Zimmerman finally spilled his confession to a detective, saying, "You're right. I did kill them."

Sax said after the verdict that he believed that Zimmerman had one or two accomplices with him.

There's "no question there was an accomplice, but we're not able to divulge who it was at this point," he said. He added he was "hopeful" more arrests will come.

Defense attorney Bernard Siegel argued in his closing that the prosecution had not presented any evidence that placed Zimmerman in his parents' home.

"There is nothing to establish his involvement in this case," Siegel said. "Inheritance is a natural matter of someone dying. It's not indicative of a killing."

Siegel also argued that someone else killed the parents that Sunday morning around breakfast time, not Saturday night, because they were found in their bed clothes at the dining-room table, and Richard Zimmerman had a bowl of cereal before him.

According to court testimony, Zimmerman told police he had never been to his parents' South Street home nor knew where they lived, even though at one point he lived with his sister and her husband, Carlos Molina, in their 3rd Street home, near South. Zimmerman later stayed with friends in Port Richmond and Kensington.

Michelle Zimmerman had testified at the trial and defended her brother. She said that he had received $65,000 (half of the parents' life-insurance policies), but never said he had killed them.

Sax argued that Matthew had gotten much more. *

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