Website Home

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Innocent man dodges baying Facebook mob after he's wrongly named as Philadelphia's 'Kensington Strangler'

The Kensington Strangler: A police photo-fit of the man suspected of carrying out the serial killings terrorising Philadelphia. Triz Jeffries was named as the killer on Facebook - but is innocent of the crimes











An innocent man is living in fear of vigilantes after wrongly being named as a serial killer terrorising the city of Philadelphia.

Triz Jeffries was named as a 'Kensington Strangler' and his photo posted on Facebook and fliers around the the U.S. city.

He began receiving threatening messages and an angry lynch mob gathered outside his mother's home.

Jeffries, 24, was forced to call police and was escorted from the house in front of the baying mob.

He volunteered for a DNA test which proved he was not the killer who has so far claimed three victims.

Police confirmed that Jeffries is not linked to any of the attacks and have been forced to start a separate hunt for those responsible for starting the Facebook page.
'Everybody has to be very leery of photos of a wanted person on Facebook,' said Lt. Ray Evers.

'Because of social networking and how big this fan page is growing if somebody shared it with their friends, the multiplier effect ... it's pretty damning.
'There's really no vetting process, you can put any photo out on Facebook,' he explained.

'The only one that should be giving out a photo is the police.'
The 'Kensington Strangler' has been positively linked to the sexual assaults and murders of three women.

All took place in the Kensington area of the city and has left residents on edge.

Jeffries is said to bear a resemblance to a police photo-fit of the main suspect.
He was first named on fliers that appeared in the city and later named on a Facebook page called 'Catch the Kensington Strangler, before he catches someone you love'. The page has since been removed from Facebook.

An angry mob gathered outside Jeffries' home on December 20. Rather than try and plead his innocence he called police who escorted him to a special victims unit for a DNA test.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said he was innocent.
'He is not a suspect, he is not connected with this,' Ramsey said.

Curtis Sliwa of the Guardian Angels, a group of volunteers helping police patrol the neighborhood, said his members received more than 200 flyers with Jefferies' picture, name and address.

No comments:

Post a Comment