A man will now face 22 to 44 years in prison after pleading guilty to the fatal stabbing of a transgender woman in North Philadelphia last year.
Raheam Felton, 32, stabbed London Kiki Chanel, 21, in a rage after learning the young woman told his girlfriend, key witness Mayai Bankz, that he had been “sexually touching her,” Philly.com reported. The attack happened after Felton returned with some Chinese takeout to the North Ingersoll Street apartment where Chanel lived.
Chanel later died at the hospital from multiple stab wounds in her neck, chest and back, on May 18, according to the report. At the time, Felton reportedly told police an unknown assailant had attacked her. “She was such a sweet person,” Chanel’s aunt, Dimitria Washington, reportedly told the court during victim impact statements. “She would give anything. What did she do that was so wrong?” Chanel’s family said she left Texas to live her life as a woman in Philadelphia, but had plans to return to Texas to reunite with her estranged family.
“I didn’t understand, but the world changes and I had to learn to change with it,” Veronica Allen, Chanel’s mother, reportedly told the court. “I knew Marcus, but I didn’t get to know London, the beautiful woman she became. [Felton] took that from me.”
Man sentenced to 22 to 44 years after pleading guilty to murder of transgender woman
Philadelphia Police
