Courts. (Credit: Flickr Creative Commons)
Gang member Yzire Jenkins-Rowe, of Collegeville, was one of four men charged in connection with the killing of Tyrell Michael Holmes, 18
A Montgomery County man has been sentenced to decades behind bars for his role in the brutal 2018 killing of a Bethlehem teenager who was stabbed and set on fire while still alive.
Yzire Jenkins-Rowe, 28, of Collegeville, was sentenced Monday in Northampton County Court to 27½ to 60 years in state prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and arson in the death of 18-year-old Tyrell Michael Holmes, according to The Morning Call.
Holmes was killed outside the Parkhurst Apartments on Watkins Street in Bethlehem. Authorities said he was stabbed multiple times before being set ablaze.
Jenkins-Rowe is one of four men charged in connection with the killing, police said.
According to the report, at the time of the crime, all four were allegedly part of a gang known as “Money Rules Everything.”
Prosecutors said the group targeted Holmes after gang leader Alkiohn Dunkins lost trust in him, according to The Morning Call.
Holmes had reportedly expressed fear for his life in the days leading up to his death, even as he lived with Jenkins-Rowe and Dunkins, authorities said.
Investigators used phone records, surveillance footage, and other evidence to identify and arrest Jenkins-Rowe, Dunkins, and co-defendants Miles Harper, 26, of Allentown, and Zahmire Welcome, 26, of Whitehall Township.
Harper has pleaded guilty to aggravated arson and is awaiting sentencing, per the report. Welcome is scheduled to stand trial on Sept. 29. Dunkins, who was found guilty by a jury earlier this year, is set to be sentenced on June 24.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorneys General Christopher Phillips and Katherine McDermott.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
