A 61-year-old man is facing murder charges after a woman’s body was discovered earlier this year inside a trash can at a West Philadelphia park.
SEPTA transit police apprehended Ricardo Ponds on Wednesday, Feb. 26, in Center City, according to authorities. Investigators believe he killed Deborah Leatherberry, 54, of Southwest Philadelphia.
Leatherberry’s body was found in a garbage container on the morning of Jan. 30 at Lucien Blackwell Park, near 47th Street and Fairmount Avenue in the Mill Creek neighborhood, police said. The PPD added that her cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.
Ponds has been charged with murder, firearm violations, conspiracy, abusing a corpse and evidence tampering. He is being held without bail, and a preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for March 17.
