Authorities say the siblings tortured and killed a woman, leaving her burned body in Salisbury Township, and also shot to death a Palmer Township man and a third victim. Watch video
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Michael, left, and Maurice Wilkins face three counts of murder in the killings of a Palmer Township man and another man in Reading and then the burning alive of a Reading woman in Salisbury Township.
Angry over being duped in a December drug deal, two Berks County brothers killed three people, including a Palmer Township man and a woman whose body they dumped in Lehigh County, authorities said today.
Berks County District Attorney John Adams said Michael Alan Wilkins, 39, and Maurice Adrian Wilkins, 32, on Dec. 4 shot to death Rafael N. Alequin and Dario McLemore in Reading.
On Dec. 27, the Wilkins brothers kidnapped, tortured and killed Jennifer Velez-Negron in Reading before dumping and burning her body on Chestnut Hill Road in Salisbury Township, he said.
Alequin, a 22-year-old Berks man; McLemore, 22, of Palmer Township; and Velez-Negron, 26, of Reading, each may have played a role in selling Michael Wilkins fake cocaine for $700, court records say. All of their deaths have been ruled homicides, authorities say.
The Wilkins brothers, both of the 3900 block of Pricetown Road in Ruscombmanor Township, Pa., outside Fleetwood, were arraigned on homicide charges in all three killings and are being held without bail in Berks County prison.
Maurice Wilkins was arrested earlier this year in connection with Alequin and McLemore's deaths, Adams said. Michael Wilkins, who'd been under police surveillance, was arrested Monday night in Ruscombmanor after authorities gathered enough evidence to charge both men in all three homicides, he said.
Video shows torture, records say
Adams said cooperation between his office, that of Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin, Reading police, Salisbury police and other law enforcement helped build a case against the brothers. Investigators are still working to fill in pieces of the puzzle and are hopeful more witnesses come forward with information now that both the Wilkins brothers are off the streets.
Maurice Wilkins on Jan. 3 showed an unidentified witness a cellphone video of a gagged Velez-Negron duct-taped to a chair, records say. The records say she was forced to ingest heroin and was otherwise tortured by both of the Wilkins brothers.
The witness, who spoke with authorities March 8, heard Maurice Wilkins tell Velez-Negron in the video "this is the last time she is going to set someone up."
The witness told authorities Maurice Wilkins suspected Velez-Negron's involvement in the drug deal, records say. They killed her over it and because she saw the brothers shoot Alequin, who died from multiple gunshot wounds, and McLemore, who died from a single gunshot wound to the chest, records say.
Doused with gasoline
The Wilkins brothers doused Velez-Negron's body with gasoline and set it ablaze, authorities say. She died from asphyxiation and thermal injuries, but Adams and Martin said authorities may never know where the death occurred.
Martin said there were burns over 90 percent of Velez-Negron's body, and records indicate cloth was found inside her mouth and secured there with duct tape. Also, her legs were bound with wire, records say.
Beneath the tape on her neck, authorities found a tattoo of the word "Javi," records say. Adams said that tattoo proved pivotal in helping authorities identify her and move forward with their investigation.
Alequin and McLemore were shot about 2:24 a.m. in the 1100 block of Franklin Street. Reading police found Alequin slumped inside a double-parked vehicle and McLemore lying on a nearby sidewalk; both men were later pronounced dead at the shooting site, records say.
Police in the area heard four gunshots and responded to the block moments after the shooting, records say. McLemore was grunting when police arrived but died by the time Reading EMS got there, records say.
His mother, Rhonda McLemore, of Franklin Park, N.J., said the 2008 Easton Area High School graduate had been an honor student and was majoring in business in college.
Speaking to the same witness who saw the cellphone video, Maurice Wilkins said he needed to get out of town after shooting one of two people who'd ripped off his brother in a drug deal, records say.
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GUN BUY CALLED ILLEGAL
A witness who described a cellphone video showing the torture of Jennifer Velez-Negron also was present when Maurice Wilkins discussed the December shooting with a Carlos Vargas-Osorio, authorities say.
Vargas-Osorio said during that conversation that he supplied the gun used, records say.
Berks County District Attorney John Adams said authorities believe that gun was obtained in a straw purchase, where someone buys a gun legally to give to someone barred from buying a gun. Vargas-Osorio is not charged with any crime in the shooting, records say.
Both Wilkins and his brother, Michael Wilkins, are felons who spent time in Pennsylvania and New York state prisons, Adams said; neither is allowed to possess firearms.
At the time of his arrest, Maurice Wilkins was free on bail after being charged in connection with a New York City burglary, Adams said. He does not believe the brothers are affiliated with a crime organization.