PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A man authorities say killed six people in 2021 faced a judge in Philadelphia on Tuesday. At a preliminary hearing, prosecutors laid out the cases of four more people they say he killed — including his own mother.
Judge Karen Simmons admonished Keith Gibson after several outbursts in the courtroom and held him in contempt. Gibson was taken back to prison, and the hearing concluded without him present. The judge held him on all murder charges.
Gibson is already serving several life sentences in Delaware. He was arrested in the state after a robbery at a Rite Aid. He was tried and convicted of two murders: Leslie Ruiz-Basilio, during a robbery at a cell phone store, and later Ronald Wright.
He now faces four more murder charges in Philadelphia, as well as robbery and gun offenses. Gibson is accused of killing two shop owners, Eric Flores and Roy Caban, in Germantown in January and his own mother, Christine Gibson, in February. Then, for a few months, he served time for a parole violation. When he got out, prosecutors say, Gibson killed the two people in Delaware — and then in June, on the same day he robbed and killed Wright, he killed Dunkin' Donuts employee Christine Lugo.
Prosecutor Joanne Pescatore, homicide supervisor for the District Attorney's Office, says Gibson's gun matches the ballistics evidence of each shooting. And she credits a woman who was friends with Gibson, for calling in a tip and telling authorities that Gibson told her he killed his mother to get her life insurance money.
"We ask citizens to do that all the time — and this citizen actually did that," Pescatore said.
The judge held Gibson on murder, robbery and some gun charges.
"Every single person deserves justice. I don't care how long it takes. I don't care how long a person is serving. It doesn't matter," Pescatore said. "This family wants to know what happened to their loved one, and they have a right to know that."
