The parents of Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells spoke out Monday, a week after their daughter’s killer was convicted and more than five years after her dismembered remains were found in the Schuylkill River.
A jury convicted Ahkenaton Jones, 41, of first-degree murder June 9 for fatally stabbing Fells, a 27-year-old Black transgender woman. Jones is set to be sentenced in September, and the crime carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Fells’s death made national news in 2020 and brought renewed focus on violence against members of the LGBTQ community, particularly trans women of color.
“The verdict last Monday brought justice for our daughter, Dominique Rem’mie, but it doesn’t take away the pain of losing her,” her mother, Terri Fells-Edmonds, said during a news conference organized by the District Attorney’s Office. “Dominique’s life mattered, and we will continue to honor her memory every day.”
“She had this vision that she was going to be important,” Keith Edmonds, Fells’s father, told reporters. “She was going to be something that was going to make a difference in this world. And what has come out of all of this during this time is that, through this tragedy, there’s been a movement.”
Jones’s motive remains elusive. He stabbed Fells at least 40 times, but Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski, who prosecuted the case, said the reasoning behind the killing may never come out.
“I think it’s one of the most savage and personal and hateful crimes I’ve ever seen,” Toczylowski added.
Even if there was evidence to support it, the DA’s Office could not have charged Jones with a hate crime if they believed he killed Fells for being trans. Pennsylvania’s ethnic intimidation statute, governing hate crimes, does not incorporate a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Fells’s upper body was discovered in the river near Bartram’s Garden on June 8, 2020. A few days later, her legs were found wrapped in trash bags on the banks of the waterway, according to investigators.
Detectives quickly zeroed in on Jones after interviewing witnesses who had been with him and Fells on June 6, the night of the murder. Police searched his University City home and recovered a number of blood-soaked items, including a knife, electric saw and hazmat suit, prosecutors said.
Surveillance video recovered from the area showed Jones wheeling a garbage can filled with Fells’s remains to a white van. Investigators were able to track that vehicle as he drove toward the Schuylkill, the DA’s Office added.
After authorities issued an arrest warrant, Jones went on the run, and he was eventually apprehended in November 2020 in Los Angeles.
The case was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Toczylowski said, and an initial trial, in December 2024, ended with a hung jury on the most serious charges.
She said Jones represented himself and, near the end of the proceedings, presented a version of the events that blamed one of the witnesses. The DA’s Office decided to retry the case, gathering new evidence to disprove Jones’s assertions, Toczylowski added.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 26.
