Published on June 2 | Last updated on June 8
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Testimony got underway last week in the murder trial of a suspected serial killer who Philadelphia prosecutors say killed four people in 2021. One of the victims, prosecutors said, was his mother.
In their opening statements on Tuesday, June 2, prosecutors told jurors that physical evidence, video and a revolver tied Keith Gibson to the three “horrific” incidents and four murders.
The series of slayings started on Jan. 28, 2021. Eric Flores and Roy Caban were found shot execution style inside their store, Al-Madinah Traders, along Germantown Avenue, not far from Broad Street and Erie Avenue.
A month later, Gibson’s mother, Christine Gibson, was fatally shot inside a community center office along Ridge Avenue. In June, Christine Lugo was working her manager shift at Dunkin’ in North Philadelphia when she was killed during an armed robbery. The incident was caught on surveillance video.
In all three shootings, prosecutors said Keith Gibson pulled the trigger.
Keith Gibson allegedly told a friend about killing his mother for insurance money — and that friend called police with a tip about the shooter’s identity, after seeing news reports and surveillance video tied to Lugo’s killing.
Prosecutors told jurors that days after the last victim was killed, Keith Gibson was arrested in Wilmington, Delaware, after a Rite-Aid store clerk put a tracker in a bag of cash during an armed robbery. Investigators said they found a revolver, which was the gun used in all three incidents.
The defense, however, has argued that police did very little to investigate these crimes, and they pinned all the murders on the wrong man.
Keith Gibson is currently serving seven life sentences for killing two people in Delaware during robberies.
He has been notoriously disruptive in court proceedings but was ruled mentally competent for trial. He was not in the courtroom and watched from another room because he said the shackles he was ordered to wear were highly uncomfortable.
Widow of store clerk testifies
Caban’s widow took the stand on the second day of trial. She told jurors that Jan. 28, 2021, was a typical morning with her husband. He left for work at the Al-Madinah Traders store, but less than two hours later, she said she was unable to get a hold of him.
She called around asking people to check on him, and eventually heard from a friend working at a nearby pizza shop that he had been found alongside his coworker, Eric Flores, with blood. Both men were fatally shot in the head.
She said she raced down to the scene and fainted upon hearing the news of her husband’s death and had to be hospitalized.
Roy CabanCourtesy of family
Prosecutors point to jewelry
The lead homicide detective who investigated the Al-Madinah Traders murders also testified on Wednesday. He told the jury that in all four murders that Keith Gibson is accused of, a revolver was used and the victims were shot in the head. Two of the incidents involved commercial businesses, and the motive in all of them seemed to be robbery.
The detective said that when Keith Gibson was arrested, he was wearing a gold lion pendant similar to one missing from the display case at Al-Madinah Traders. The detective also noted that watches were found inside Keith Gibson’s home that matched ones missing from the store.
Caban’s widow identified the watches in crime scene photos and said they looked like the ones the store sold.
Defense attorneys, however, argued that those watches could have been purchased on Amazon.
Police believed he was after his mother’s life insurance money
Christine Gibson’s best friend testified that she couldn’t get in contact with her for days back in February 2021. She said Keith Gibson was acting odd when she asked about his mother; she said Keith told her that Christine ran off with a guy.
On Feb. 8, 2021, Christine brought Keith to an East Falls community center, where she worked as a cleaner. There, prosecutors said, he shot her in the back of the head, killing her.
The best friend testified that Christine was in fear of her son. The mother and son lived together for only a few weeks, and she recalled how Christine wanted to change her life insurance policy so her son wouldn’t get anything.
Christine’s niece also tearfully testified that a few nights before her aunt’s death, Christine was trying to sign new life insurance papers. She said Christine mentioned that Keith did “an unforgivable act” but would not specify.
Christine GibsonCourtesy of family
The defense probed the significance of the life insurance policy change, noting Christine had changed it a few times over the years.
A detective took the stand Thursday morning, recalling how investigators quickly discovered that Christine was having issues with Keith but was trying to get him a job, which is why she brought him to the community center for cleaning.
The detective said Christine had two life insurance policies, and when he later spoke to Keith, he told him not to “move” on those policies, as he was the beneficiary. The detective said he later learned Keith was gathering all the paperwork to cash in on the policy.
Defense attorneys probed the detective’s methodology and again argued that police did very little to investigate any of these deaths.
Fellow employee recalls finding final victim
On Thursday, prosecutors called a Dunkin’ employee who found the last victim, Christine Lugo.
Lugo was found on June 5, 2021, inside the back office of the shop, located at Fifth Street and Lehigh Avenue. She had managed the store, which was open 24/7.
The employee testified that when he arrived for his 6 a.m. shift, the entire store was dark. He checked the back door and found Lugo shot in the head, slumped over dead. He said he first called his mom because he was so distraught, and then called 911.
Prosecutors said it was an armed robbery, and Keith Gibson killed Lugo.
The defense probed both the employee and a responding officer about another worker who was supposed to work that morning but had suddenly called out.
Christine Lugo with her daughter and sonCourtesy of family
Similar killing in Delaware
The detective who handled Lugo’s homicide investigation said police pushed out pictures and video of the suspect. Eventually, they got a call from Delaware authorities who thought a murder in Wilmington seemed similar to Lugo’s. In both cases, female managers were fatally shot in the head in the back office of their stores.
Wilmington police sent the detective a picture of a suspect they believed looked like Lugo’s killer — the photo was of Keith Gibson.
The defense has continued to poke holes in the prosecutors’ case. They pointed to other potential suspects, and they noted that detectives did very little to find the real killer and had their eyes on Keith Gibson from the beginning.
Revolver tied to all murders, prosecutors say
On Friday, a detective showed a montage of surveillance video showing a gunman shoot and kill Lugo, and then walk to a home on Croskey Street, where Keith Gibson lived. Prosecutors said Lugo was killed in the same way as three others — shot in the head by a revolver — and the motivation in all was money.
The Delaware police officer who arrested Gibson in Wilmington, following a robbery at a Rite Aid, testified to being led to a property by a GPS tracker that an employee dropped in a bag of stolen money. Gibson was arrested, and a revolver was found close by, which prosecutors said was the murder weapon.
An expert testified that bullets and fragments from three of the shootings matched that gun, and a fragment found at the shooting of two store clerks had similar characteristics, though couldn’t be exactly matched.
When the defense crossed, they poked at the expert’s analysis of the weapon and the overall investigation into the gun.
Additionally, a woman who said she was friends with Gibson told jurors he was the man in the Dunkin’ surveillance video, and that Gibson told her his mother was killed execution style and that he’d soon be getting her life insurance money.
Families remember victims
The families of the victims have been sitting in the courtroom for the last week, listening to lengthy, gruesome testimony of how their loved ones were killed and what their final moments may have been like.
The first victims, Eric Flores and Roy Caban, were found shot execution style inside their store, Al-Madinah Traders, along Germantown Avenue.
“Roy was a happy person, funny person, a lovable person that we all loved very much, very much, and he’s missed very much,” said Caban’s widow, Darlene Roman. “He was just always the life of the party. He made people smile.”
More than a week later, Christine Gibson, Keith Gibson’s mother, was shot dead inside an East Falls community center where she worked.
“She always wanted to give back,” said her brother, David Thornton. “She was warm. She had a heart of gold. She’d do anything for anybody. … She loved [Keith] more than he deserved.”
The fourth victim was Christine Lugo, a manager of a Dunkin’ in North Philadelphia. She was shot and killed during an armed robbery.
“She cared so deeply about us. My mom used to call us six to 20 times a day,” said her daughter, Frances. She said Lugo was a devoted mother and grandmother.
“Their bond was like no other,” she said. “During her passing, my children were only 1 and 3. My oldest son, who was 3 at the time … threw himself on her attempting to wake her up, and my family had to rip him off her.”
Closing arguments
On Monday, the defense told jurors that police were grasping for a suspect for the four murders and that they chose Keith Gibson with very little to no evidence. They said the 44-year-old is innocent.
But prosecutors poked at that claim and took jurors through the evidence they said links Gibson to all the killings: the way each died with a gunshot wound to the head; the motive: always money; and the gun.
They replayed the video from Dunkin’ when store manager Christine Lugo was killed: with a picture of the suspect’s face next to the killer’s closeup, and recalled how their last witness, a friend of Gibson’s, always said it was him.
That same friend testified about Gibson telling her his mom Christine died “execution style” days before her body was found, and had no emotion, and then said he’d be getting a lot of money soon from her life insurance policy.
And they weaved in how watches and a pendant from the shop, where Roy Caban and Eric Flores were killed, were found in Gibson’s home during a search warrant.
Jurors had one question about seeing pictures linked to that double shooting, and then continued deliberations.
The jury will continue to deliberate Tuesday morning.
