PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia man admitted to stabbing a woman he was intimate with 125 times throughout the body about a year and a half ago, leaving her bloodied, naked body in a bathtub where her mother found her, but he's now pleaded only to third-degree murder.
35-year-old Jill Millman's body was found on November 6, 2019.
"A fit of anger to take somebody's life away, just doesn't make sense to me," said Millman's mother, BethAnn Weinstein-Rubenstein, who found her. "To try to understand someone's anger to go that far, is not possible."
Weinstein-Rubenstein said her daughter was kind, a creative writer and animal lover.
"If she saw someone homeless, she was right in her pocket or wallet," she said of her daughter.
Millman, who was on the autism spectrum, had finally found her dream job as a chef before she was killed.
"She loved to cook," said Weinstein-Rubenstein, "and when she found her place at the Dining Car, that was her world."
This week, Arthur Caesar admitted to stabbing Millman 125 times, openly pleading guilty to third degree murder. A spokesperson for the district attorney said in an email the plea "spares survivors the trauma associated with jury trials."
"You are trying to convince 12 people of someone's guilt," reasoned Weinstein-Rubenstein. "It's maybe a little bit easier to try to convince one person, which is the judge, and show the evidence of what transpired."
Prosecutors told the judge that on the day the victim's body was discovered, Caesar was seen on surveillance video handing a bag to trash truck workers coming down the street. He was also seen walking into some brush where the victim's cell phone was later found.
They said Caesar was also questioned by detectives about a gash on his hand and bruised, swollen fists. He told them he dropped a knife at work. He was eventually arrested and said the two had sex and argued, and then he blacked out.
"It's such a waste of two lives, two families," said Weinstein-Rubenstein.
Even with the surveillance video and police testimony, Millman's parents agreed to let him plead guilty. But her family doesn't entirely agree with the decision, and they say it's been a struggle.
Caesar has also pleaded to robbery, tampering with evidence and possession of instrument in a crime. He will be sentenced in late June, and could receive up to 60 years in prison.
