NORRISTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — It took a Montgomery County jury only 45 minutes to find an Elkins Park woman and the man she hired both guilty of murdering a Philadelphia school teacher in front of her 11-year-old son in a Cheltenham Dunkin' drive-thru last year.
Philadelphia man Zakee Alhakim, 34, and Julie Jean, 35, were both sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder for the death of 35-year-old Rachel King.
King’s 11-year-old son Jalen was in the back seat the morning of April 11, when Alhakim fired six times through her driver’s side window as she waited in the drive-thru in the Melrose Shopping Center. Only his first shot missed her.
After Jean and Alhakim were led away to prison, King’s sister, Ahyana, said Jalen regrets that he didn’t give his mom a hug that morning. She said she looks forward to getting home and giving him a big hug.
“That will be the greatest hug. It won't be a better hug than what he wanted to give his mother — but, my God, I cannot wait to hold that little boy and tell him that the people who murdered his mother have been held accountable.”
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said Jean had orchestrated King’s murder last year to get back at King’s boyfriend after he ended an affair with Jean.
“This is this ultimate tragedy in you know somebody who was doing everything right in her life. And she just was tragically killed because of vengeance that had nothing to do with her,” said Steele.
Steele said Jean moved from North Philadelphia to Elkins Park to be closer to that boyfriend, William Hayes. In Jean’s mind, the relationship was moving toward something serious, Steele said. And when Hayes ended that relationship to be with King, Jean set in motion a plan to kill her, Steele said.