NORRISTOWN — The estranged husband of a Wyndmoor woman, who had a protection from abuse order against him, intends to plead guilty to a homicide charge and accept a life prison sentence for fatally stabbing the mother of three inside her home.
Kenneth Crisden Shea Jr., 37, made his first appearance in a Montgomery County courtroom on Thursday where lawyers revealed Shea, under a plea agreement, will plead guilty to a first-degree murder charge and be sentenced to life imprisonment during a hearing next month in connection with the April 10, 2024, brutal stabbing and death of his estranged wife, Elizabeth Shea, 57, of the Wyndmoor section of Springfield Township.
Judge William R. Carpenter scheduled Shea’s guilty plea hearing for June 10.
“Obviously, he’ll be pleading to the murder in the first-degree charge in exchange for a sentence of life,” defense lawyer Francis John Genovese confirmed after the brief hearing before Carpenter.
First-degree murder is an intentional killing and carries potential punishments of life imprisonment or the death penalty.
“I get the sense that he wanted, more than anything, to give peace of mind to the victim’s children, particularly her youngest son, who I understand is going to be going off to college in the fall. And if he (Shea) could give him peace of mind knowing that this case was over and resolved when he went off to school to start his life, that he (Shea) wanted to do that. So, that was the main reason he came to that decision,” said Genovese, explaining Shea’s decision-making process.
“Obviously, also just understanding what he had done, the harm that he committed, he wanted to make things right and the only way he knew how at this point is by entering a guilty plea,” Genovese added.
Genovese said Shea was aware that prosecutors could have filed to seek the death penalty against him if he were to be convicted of first-degree murder at a trial.
“That was a very realistic possibility so he clearly took that into consideration,” Genovese said. “But again, I think his main motivation was to bring some comfort or peace of mind to the victim’s children.”
The revelation that Shea intends to plead guilty came during what was supposed to be Shea’s formal arraignment hearing on the homicide charges. It is during a formal arraignment hearing that prosecutors must inform a judge if they intend to seek a death sentence in a homicide case.
Once it was revealed Shea intended to plead guilty on June 10, the arraignment hearing was postponed.
Assistant District Attorney Tanner Christian Beck did not file a death penalty notice in court on Thursday. Essentially, with the arraignment hearing postponed, a decision about whether to file notice of the death penalty was not a determination that Beck had to make at that point.
“Our understanding is that he’s going to come in on June 10 and plead guilty to first-degree murder for an agreed sentence of life without the possibility of parole,” Beck said. “I think that would be a good resolution. It will provide some closure to the family and we’re hopeful that it goes through like that on June 10.”
At the time Shea allegedly killed his estranged wife he was awaiting court action on separate charges of simple assault and strangulation in connection with a previous January 2024 domestic assault of Elizabeth. Shea, according to authorities, intends to plead guilty to those charges as well on June 10.
“The plea agreement will resolve all outstanding charges, the strangulation case and the homicide case,” Genovese confirmed.
Shea, who listed an address in the 2700 block of Lincoln Highway in Lower Southampton Township, Bucks County, did not speak in court, allowing Genovese to speak on his behalf.
Shea did not respond to a reporter’s questions as he was escorted by sheriff’s deputies from the courtroom for the return trip to the county jail where he will remain without bail pending the June 10 hearing.
The investigation began about 7:15 a.m. April 10 when Springfield Township police responded to the victim’s residence in the 1000 block of Cromwell Road to check on her welfare after her coworkers reported she failed to show up for her job at Lucky Dogz Pet Daycare Center in Wyndmoor, according to a criminal complaint filed by county Detective Anthony Caso and Springfield Township Detective Robert Baiada.
Arriving officers found a rear sliding glass door to the residence unlocked, entered the residence, found the door to the master bedroom locked and forced entry into the bedroom. Inside the bedroom, police observed Elizabeth Shea’s lifeless body on the floor, according to the arrest affidavit.
“They observed, what appeared to be, blood stains on the bed and obvious cut wounds to the head and neck area of Elizabeth Shea,” Caso and Baiada alleged, adding officers took note of numerous video surveillance cameras inside and outside of the residence.
An autopsy determined the victim’s cause of death was multiple stab wounds.
Court documents indicate detectives were aware of prior domestic incidents at the Cromwell Road residence involving Elizabeth and Kenneth Shea, including an active arrest warrant for Kenneth charging him with simple assault and strangulation of Elizabeth during the alleged January 2024 incident.
In March 2024, the victim obtained a protection from abuse order against Shea, who was served a copy of the order on March 15, according to court papers. At the time police served the order, Shea was evicted from the Cromwell Road residence.
When detectives processed the crime scene they found a window air conditioner had been pushed inside the residence, allowing access to the residence through that window. Detectives observed the victim in the master bedroom with cut or stab wounds to her neck, court papers indicate.
“In the bathroom area of the residence, they observed blood in the sink area as if someone had attempted to clean up,” Caso and Baiada wrote in court papers.
The victim’s son told detectives that his mother made him aware on March 15 that she had filed for a protection order against Shea “and detailed some of the physical abuse she was the victim of,” according to the arrest affidavit. The victim’s son told detectives his mother also changed all of the locks in her home.
During the investigation, detectives obtained records from Uber Technologies Inc. that showed Shea utilized two Uber ride-share services on April 10.
The first Uber ride was requested at 12:23 a.m. with a pickup time of 12:36 a.m. near the Comfort Inn where Shea had been staying in the 2700 block of Lincoln Highway in the Feasterville/Trevose section of Lower Southampton Township, according to court papers. Records showed Shea was dropped off at 12:55 a.m. along Wainwright Road in Wyndmoor, the road directly behind the victim’s Cromwell Road residence, detectives alleged.
The second Uber ride was requested by Shea at 3:27 a.m. with a pickup time at 3:37 a.m. on Wainwright Road and the drop-off time was 3:58 a.m. at a location near the Comfort Inn in Lower Southampton Township. Detectives also obtained video surveillance from the Comfort Inn that showed Shea arriving in the lobby area of the hotel, around the time the Uber dropped him off, and going to a room booked by a known associate of Shea, according to the criminal complaint.
At 6:06 a.m. April 10, members of the Bensalem Police Department S.W.A.T were stationed outside the hotel room when Shea opened the door, entered into the hallway and was taken into custody, according to court documents.
During a search of the hotel room, detectives seized camouflage pants that surveillance video depicted Shea wearing as he entered the hotel in the early morning hours of April 10.
“Staining consistent with blood was also found on the bed inside the room,” Caso and Baiada alleged. “At the time of his arrest, Kenneth Shea had injuries to his right hand. These injuries included three small cuts to his right index finger.”
