NORRISTOWN — The boyfriend of a woman from Cheltenham Township who was shot and killed in her car while waiting in a Dunkin’ drive-thru, explained to a jury his secret relationship with the Elkins Park woman who prosecutors say planned the killing of her romantic rival after he ended their relationship.
William Hayes told Montgomery County Court on Tuesday that he had a secret 10-month sexual relationship with Julie Jean in 2022 while he was dating Rachel Elizabeth King “on and off,” but eventually broke things off with Jean to focus on building a future with King.
“We had casual sex from time to time, that’s about it,” Hayes testified, describing his sexual encounters with Jean and explaining that he ended the relationship at the end of 2022. “I just told her we needed to go our separate ways…and I wished her the best. I had no ill will. She didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t understand when I was done.”
In uncomfortable testimony, Hayes revealed that Jean continued to contact and harass him, and asked him, “How can you just cut me out?” Hayes, Jean, and King all lived near each other in separate apartments in the Lynnewood Gardens complex in Cheltenham.
According to testimony, Jean contacted King in early December 2022 to reveal her affair with Hayes.
Hayes told the court that Jean continued to harass him, including knocking at his bedroom window and parking her vehicle near King’s apartment, leading him to file for a Protection From Abuse Order against Jean on Dec. 7, 2022.
“I went to get the PFA once she included Rachel in the harassment,” Hayes said.
After a Dec. 15 PFA hearing, Jean was prohibited from contacting or harassing Hayes.
But Hayes claimed Jean reached out to him again and he “made an impulsive move” and arranged a meeting between himself, Jean, and King.
“I wanted to air everything out. I apologized. I told Julie I’m not moving forward with you, I’m trying to move forward with Rachel,” Hayes remembered.
During the trial, District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and co-prosecutor Caroline Goldstein argued that Jean wanted to retaliate against Hayes for ending the affair and plotted with Zakkee S. Alhakim to kill King, whom she saw as a romantic rival.
Prosecutors identified Jean as the mastermind behind King’s killing and Alhakim as the shooter in what they described as a “murder-for-hire” scheme.
Jean, 35, of the 7600 block of Washington Lane, Elkins Park, and Alhakim, 34, of Philadelphia, face charges of first- and third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and related charges in connection with the 7:39 a.m. April 11, 2023, fatal shooting of King. They are charged under accomplice liability theories.
Jean and Alhakim could receive life imprisonment if they’re found guilty of the first-degree murder charge at trial.
If found guilty of third-degree murder, which is a killing done with malice, the person could be sentenced to 20 to 40 years in jail.
At 35 years old, King, a teacher at Grover Cleveland Mastery Charter School in Philadelphia for a decade, was shot multiple times while sitting in her car at the Dunkin’ store in the Melrose Shopping Center on West Cheltenham Avenue in Cheltenham.
King stopped at Dunkin’ on her way to take her 11-year-old son, Jalen, to violin practice. Jalen was in the back seat and was not hurt during the attack.
The jurors seemed very interested as they watched a video of Jalen talking to child social workers after seeing his mother die.
“This man came up and shot her. I got down,” Jalen, holding a stuffed teddy bear, told the social worker. “I called her name. Her eyes were open and I was shaking her.”
King’s father, Rev. Allen King Jr., sat in the front row of the courtroom with other relatives, wiping his eyes as he watched the video. Several relatives wore orange ribbons in memory of King, who liked the color orange.
During the trial, defense lawyer Shaka M. Johnson, who represents Jean, suggested the prosecution’s case was based on “conjecture” and he urged jurors to be “critical” of the prosecution’s evidence.
Defense lawyer Benjamin Cooper suggested that the prosecutors do not have any physical evidence such as DNA or a gun to link Alhakim to the murder.
The trial, overseen by Judge William R. Carpenter, is expected to last several days.
The investigation started when Cheltenham police were sent to the shopping center at 81 W. Cheltenham Ave. for a report of a shooting. Officers found King dead in the driver’s seat of her Ford Edge car, which had come to a stop on a parking island near the Dunkin’ drive-thru, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective Gregory Henry and Cheltenham Detective Ryan Murray.
An autopsy showed that King died from multiple gunshot wounds and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Detectives found six 9mm fired cartridge casings in the area where Alhakim had been standing when he allegedly fired gunshots into King’s vehicle.
Detectives found out, from witness statements and surveillance video, that King’s vehicle was followed from her home in the Lynnewood Gardens Apartments by a silver Mercury Sable driven by Alhakim. As King pulled into the Dunkin’ drive-thru, Alhakim parked nearby, walked to the driver’s side window of King’s vehicle, shot her multiple times, then returned to his vehicle and fled, according to the criminal complaint.
Cellphone analysis and surveillance video also showed that Alhakim had been outside King’s home along Humphrey Merry Way in Cheltenham in the days leading up to the murder and had watched King’s movements.
After the shooting, investigators published images from the security cameras of the silver Mercury Sable and requested the public’s assistance in finding out who the vehicle belongs to. Shortly after the images were released, Philadelphia detectives reported that they thought the same vehicle was involved in a shooting and murder in Philadelphia on April 7, 2022, and that Alhakim was a suspect in that alleged crime, according to court documents.
Philadelphia police found 11 fired 9mm cartridge casings at the scene of the murder on April 7.
On April 13, investigators were informed that a comparison of the 9mm fired cartridge casings from the Cheltenham and Philadelphia murder scenes revealed that the same firearm was used in both incidents, according to the criminal complaint.
Alhakim is also charged with murder in connection with the April 7 incident in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia police arrested Alhakim on April 11 just hours after King’s fatal shooting while he was driving the Mercury Sable.
The investigation found that Alhakim and Jean knew each other through a mutual acquaintance and that since February they communicated and met multiple times leading up to the murder. The Mercury Sable was acquired by Alhakim on March 30 and was purchased in Jean’s name, according to court papers.
When police examined the contents of Alhakim’s cellphone they discovered data showed he was in the area of King’s residence in the early morning hours of April 11 and near the Dunkin’ store at the time of the fatal shooting.
A further examination of Alhakim’s cellphone revealed a screen capture of a map showing the exact location of King’s residence and an overlay in red marker drawing showing a route of travel directly to the victim’s house, detectives alleged.
Detectives also found a screen capture on Alhakim’s cellphone that contained a collage of photographs of King and another screen capture of a photograph of King that was displayed on the screen of what is believed to be Jean’s cellphone, according to court documents.
A photo showing a Polymer P80 ghost gun, which matches the firearm authorities believe was used to kill King, was also discovered on Alhakim’s cellphone, according to testimony.
The ghost gun has not been found, authorities said.
