PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Two people are charged with murder in the shooting death of a Philly teacher who was waiting in a Dunkin’ drive-thru line with her son earlier this month. Prosecutors called it a murder-for-hire plot by a scorned lover.
Rachel King, 35, was shot and killed while waiting in the Cheltenham Dunkin’ line around 7:30 a.m. on April 11. Her 11-year-old son was in the back seat. King was going to drop him off at his violin lesson.
Investigators say 33-year-old Zakkee Alhakim, of Philadelphia, was following King that morning, starting at her Elkins Park apartment. He had been stalking her for several days.
Alhakim parked near King in the drive-thru line, walked to the driver’s side window, and shot her multiple times.
Related
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said Alhakim was conspiring with 34-year-old Julie Jean, of Elkins Park. Jean had an affair last year with King's boyfriend, William Hayes. The affair ended, and King and Hayes broke up briefly but later reconciled. That's when, police said, Jean began harassing the couple.
Detectives said the car Alhakim was driving was in Jean’s name — they bought it less than two weeks before the murder.
They also said Jean deleted hundreds of text messages just minutes before she met with detectives the day after the murder. They were able to recover many of them.
Investigators also found a photo of King on Alhakim’s phone, along with screenshots of maps showing where King lived and how to get to her apartment.
King was a teacher at Grover Cleveland Mastery Charter School. Steele said King was loved not only by her family and friends but also by current and former students.
“I'm struggling with this one,” he said, “where a truly innocent woman is targeted in a long-planned murder all because of an ended affair.”
Both Alhakim and Jean are charged in Montgomery County with first-degree murder and conspiracy.
Alhakim is also charged with murder in another case — a shooting in Philadelphia that involved the same car, police said.