NORRISTOWN — The boyfriend of a Cheltenham Township woman, fatally shot in her vehicle as she waited in a Dunkin’ drive-thru, described for a jury the secret affair he had with the Elkins Park woman who prosecutors allege orchestrated the killing of her romantic rival after the man broke off their relationship.
William Hayes testified in Montgomery County Court on Tuesday that he had a secret 10-month sexual relationship with Julie Jean in 2022 at a time when he was also dating Rachel Elizabeth King “off and on,” but that he eventually ended his relationship with Jean to concentrate 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 adding he ended the relationship in late 2022. “I just told her we got 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.”
During testimony that was uncomfortable at times, Hayes said Jean continued to contact and harass him and asked him, “How can you just cut me out?” Hayes, Jean and King lived near each other in separate apartments in the Lynnewood Gardens complex in Cheltenham.
According to testimony, in early December 2022, Jean contacted King to expose her affair with Hayes.
Hayes testified Jean continued to harass him, including knocking at his bedroom window and parking her vehicle near King’s apartment, to the point that on Dec. 7, 2022, he filed for a Protection From Abuse Order against Jean.
“I went to get the PFA once she included Rachel in the harassment,” Hayes testified.
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 he, 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 recalled.
During the trial, District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and co-prosecutor Caroline Goldstein argued Jean wanted to get back at Hayes for ending the affair and conspired with Zakkee S. Alhakim to kill King, who she considered to be a romantic rival.
Prosecutors identified Jean as the woman who orchestrated King’s killing and Alhakim as the triggerman in what they called a “murder-for-hire” plot.
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 will face life imprisonment if they’re convicted of the first-degree murder charge at trial.
A conviction of third-degree murder, a killing committed with malice, carries a possible maximum sentence of 20-to-40-years in prison.
King, 35, a teacher at the Grover Cleveland Mastery Charter School in Philadelphia for 10 years, was shot multiple times as she sat in her vehicle in the drive-thru lane of the Dunkin’ store in the Melrose Shopping Center on West Cheltenham Avenue in Cheltenham.
King had stopped at the Dunkin’ store while on her way to take her 11-year-old son, Jalen, to a violin practice. King’s son was seated in the rear of the vehicle and was not injured during the attack.
Jurors appeared riveted as they looked at a large projection screen on which prosecutors played a videotaped statement that Jalen gave to child social workers after witnessing his mother’s death.
“This man came up and shot her. I got down,” Jalen, hugging a stuffed teddy bear, told the social worker. “I called her name. Her eyes were open and I was shaking her.”
King’s father, the Rev. Allen King Jr., seated in the first row of the courtroom with other relatives, wiped tears from his eyes as he watched the video. Several relatives came to court with orange ribbons pinned to their clothes in memory of King whose favorite color was 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 prosecutors have no physical evidence such as DNA or a gun to link Alhakim to the murder.
The trial before Judge William R. Carpenter is expected to last several days.
The investigation began when Cheltenham police were dispatched to the shopping center at 81 W. Cheltenham Ave. for a report of a shooting. Arriving officers found King deceased in the driver’s seat of her Ford Edge vehicle that had come to rest 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 determined King died of multiple gunshot wounds and the manner of death was ruled homicide.
Detectives recovered six 9mm fired cartridge casings in the area where Alhakim had been standing when he allegedly fired gunshots into King’s vehicle.
Detectives determined, through witness statements and surveillance video, that King’s vehicle was followed from her residence in the Lynnewood Gardens Apartments by a silver Mercury Sable operated by Alhakim. As King pulled into the Dunkin’ drive-thru, Alhakim parked a short distance away and then walked to the driver’s side window of King’s vehicle and shot her multiple times before returning to his vehicle and fleeing, according to the criminal complaint.
Cellphone analysis and surveillance video also determined Alhakim previously had been outside King’s residence along Humphrey Merry Way in Cheltenham in the days leading up to the murder and had watched King’s movements.
After the shooting, investigators released surveillance photos of the silver Mercury Sable and asked for the public’s help in identifying the owner of the vehicle. Shortly after the release of the photos, Philadelphia detectives relayed that they believed the same vehicle was involved in a shooting and homicide in Philadelphia on April 7, 2022, and that Alhakim was a suspect in that alleged crime, according to court documents.
Philadelphia police recovered 11 fired 9mm cartridge casings at the April 7 murder scene.
On April 13, investigators received information that a comparison of the 9mm fired cartridge casings from the Cheltenham and Philadelphia homicide scenes determined the same firearm was used in both incidents, according to the criminal complaint.
Alhakim also is facing homicide charges in connection with the April 7 incident in Philadelphia.
Alhakim was apprehended by Philadelphia police on April 11 just hours after King’s fatal shooting while he was operating the Mercury Sable.
The investigation determined 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 obtained by Alhakim on March 30 and was purchased in Jean’s name, according to court papers.
When police analyzed the contents of Alhakim’s cellphone they determined 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 review of Alhakim’s cellphone uncovered 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 photograph depicting a Polymer P80 ghost gun, which is consistent with the firearm authorities believe was used to kill King, also was found on Alhakim’s cellphone, according to testimony.
The ghost gun has not been recovered, authorities said.
