PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia man will spend at least three decades in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder and attempted murder. Jordan Oliver-Williams, 22, is one of four defendants charged in the luring and horrific torture of two men in Philadelphia over three years ago, which prosecutors say was “thought-out, planned and plotted.”
In December of 2019, authorities say, Darius Cheesboro, 22, and another man who is not publicly identified, were lured to a home on Fairhill Street in Logan. At that house, prosecutors said, Cheesboro was beaten, stabbed dozens of times throughout his body, and strangled. His penis was cut off, and his body was dumped in a trash can outside.
Officials say the group also stabbed and tortured the other man, slashing his neck and setting his penis on fire. Somehow that man got out of the house, flagged down a passerby and miraculously survived.
As well as Oliver-Williams, Lashawna Dantzler, Zahmir Mason and Zamir Burton — 24, 19 and 18 at the time, respectively — were arrested and charged for their alleged roles in torturing the two men, and killing Cheesboro and disposing of his body.
Prosecutors said the group documented the incidents on video. In the video, they said, the group can be seen laughing and dancing as they torture the men.
Members of Cheesboro’s family, heartbroken and tearful, described to the judge the pain and suffering they have felt each day since.
Oliver-Williams told the judge he was “truly sorry for what happened to the victim” and vowed to work on himself, to make life better for himself and his toddler son.
His attorneys told the judge Oliver-Williams has accepted his “limited” responsibility from the beginning — admitting to his involvement and giving investigators information that helped lead to another arrest. Their client, they said, was abandoned by his parents and abused by an alcoholic father. And they said he has a low IQ, which makes him susceptible to risk taking and being influenced. They say he was following the orders of older people.
Judge Lillian Ransom sentenced Oliver-Williams to 30 to 80 years behind bars.
Dantzler, Mason and Burton are expected to stand trial in September.