Man charged with murder, rape of 6-year-old Destiny Wright
Venus de Milo
As family mourns slaying, a friend is charged
By Leonard N. Fleming, Barbara Boyer and Ira Porter
Inquirer Staff Writers
Abdul Malik El-Shabazz is charged with murder, rape, corruption of a
minor, and 9 other charges invloved in the death of Destiny Wright.
As the slain body of 6-year-old Destiny Wright lay hidden Thursday
under a pile of clothes in a grassy lot, Abdul Malik El-Shabazz joined
the hopeful in the search to find the girl alive.
" 'Let's pray for her,' " Destiny's mother, Kareama Wright, recalled
El-Shabazz telling the girl's paternal grandmother. " 'All we need to
do is pray.' "
Yesterday, police announced that they had charged El-Shabazz with
murder and rape after he confessed to raping and killing Destiny at
his sister's Kensington rowhouse.
El-Shabazz, who is 18 and lived near the rowhouse, led detectives to
Frankford and Montgomery Avenues, a mile and a half away, where he had
meticulously placed Destiny's body, police said.
The girl's mother, who later identified the body for authorities, said
her daughter was wearing earrings. Her eyes were closed as if she were
sleeping. Mucus had run from her nose.
"How can you kill somebody 6 years old - even if it wasn't my child?"
she asked.
While police continued their investigation yesterday, the mother
placed a white teddy bear with an "I love you" heart on it among a
whole menagerie of stuffed animals - along with balloons, candles and
cards - at an impromptu memorial site at G and Westmoreland Streets.
Authorities and family members said that El-Shabazz had been watching
pornography on TV on the first floor of the house while Destiny and
four other children - three girls and a boy - were having a slumber
party on the second floor.
Most of the children were in bed with Angela Graham, El-Shabazz's
sister, who occupies the house. Destiny, who was visiting from her
home in Northeast Philadelphia, was sleeping alone in another bedroom.
El-Shabazz, after watching the X-rated movies, went into the room
where Destiny was sleeping and raped her, officials said.
He then suffocated her, placing a sock in her mouth, to cover up the
crime, police said. He dressed her in the clothes she had been
wearing, placed her body in a shopping cart, and wheeled her to the
grassy area where her body was found.
The next morning, when Graham noticed that Destiny was gone, she
called police. El-Shabazz later helped family and friends search the
neighborhood. He spoke with homicide detectives several times but gave
inconsistent statements, police said.
El-Shabazz now faces 12 charges, including murder and rape.
"We're not here to celebrate this arrest," Police Commissioner
Sylvester M. Johnson said. "We're here to mourn the deceased. We have
a 6-year-old girl who was murdered. We're not celebrating this. This
is a tragic event."
Johnson called the crime "sickening."
Residents of the racially mixed neighborhood said they could never
have imagined that El-Shabazz was capable of such a crime. They said
he was known as a quiet do-gooder who shopped for neighborhood mothers
when asked and baby-sat children in the area.
People looked to him as a "big uncle," one resident said. He was often
seen holding his young son.
El-Shabazz knew Destiny well because she was often at his sister's
house, family members said. He lived with his mother around the corner
on East Willard Street.
At times he baby-sat and cooked for Destiny.
"He acted regular with all the kids," Kareama Wright said in an
interview. "If the children wanted to go to the store, they would say,
'Ask Abdul.' "
"The guy's a nice guy," said Audrey Dyches, 41, who lives across the
street from El-Shabazz. "I have never seen him mad. He was always
taking care of everybody's kids."
But others said that, despite his rapport with children, El-Shabazz
was a troubled man who smoked marijuana and had problems finding work.
Kareama Wright said he often made lewd comments toward her and, more
than once, stole money from her.
On Feb. 23, 2000, El-Shabazz was charged with robbery, simple assault,
and two counts of theft. Adjudicated as delinquent by Judge Shelley
Robbins New, he was placed on an open-ended probation. He was still on
probation at the time of Destiny's abduction.
El-Shabazz's mother, Myrtle Graham, was arrested May 30 on charges of
prostitution and solicitation, court records show. She is awaiting
trial.
As for Destiny, her life was complicated from birth in 1995.
Her mother was 15 when Destiny was born. Because of her mother's age,
both were placed in a foster home by the city's Department of Human
Services.
Since 1996, Destiny has lived with her paternal grandmother, Stephanie
Corley.
Known to close friends and family as "Dirt" because of her tomboy
ways, Destiny would have turned 7 on Aug. 16. She had three brothers:
Ajir Snyder, 5, Ricky Corley, 3, and Sensair Wesley, 11 months.
She was an outgoing youngster, often seen riding her bike, playing
video games, and talking to people.
Destiny's father, Ricky Corley, 24 - who is also known as Lamar
Rayford, according to family members and authorities - has a criminal
record dating back to a drug-distribution conviction at age 14.
He is currently appealing a four- to eight-year prison sentence he
received last year in connection with a 1997 robbery. Charges of
kidnapping and aggravated assault were dropped as part of a plea
bargain, according to court records.
In a separate case, Ricky Corley was sentenced to 15 to 30 months in
jail for his part in assaulting a guard while he was being held on the
robbery in the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility. Court records
describe him as a dangerous man.
Destiny was 3 years old when her father went to prison.
Last night, about 400 to 500 neighborhood residents, including
Destiny's mother and grandmother, attended a memorial service at the
nearby Ascension of Our Lord Church.
"There is a new little angel in heaven, enjoying perfect peace and
happiness... ," Ascension's pastor, the Rev. Michael A. Chapman,
assured those who gathered.
"We share a common outrage and anger against this senseless and evil
act of violence," Father Chapman said.
Father Chapman said he felt compelled to host the memorial service
even though Destiny and her family had not been members of his church.
"We just felt a necessity to reach out to the community," he said.
Proprclr
I don't like GUIs as much as command line interfaces.
--
c ## ________________________________________________
m ###### l Proprclr - batch file writer, non conformist l alt.prog:
d ######## l and command line maniac. Window to my life: l
l ######## l______________________________________________l
n ########## started usenet reader at: 12:50:50.12a _Mon_08-12-2002 signame:
e # Remove the obvious from my address to e-mail me. sig.txt
started with cmds sigdir:c:\_lgdr:-c:\_pmpt: C:\USENET1.BAT cmd_usenet au_set_temp c:\ . bell_left (6)autvt sigsep men_and_women need_equal_rights
Deborah Terreson
----------
In article <3d576e4a...@newstest2.earthlink.net>,
balanco01@no$pam@yah_nothanks@oo.c@o.m (Proprclr) wrote:
> I don't like GUIs as much as command line interfaces.
What does the BSD in Free BSD stand for?
Michael Snyder
Has anybody tried these "malt beverages" produced by the distillers,
such as Smirnoff Ice etc.?
John Jones
"Michael Snyder" <msn...@redhat.com> wrote in message
news:3d57dba9$1...@nopics.sjc...
>
> Has anybody tried these "malt beverages" produced by the
distillers,
> such as Smirnoff Ice etc.?
Think Malt Duck or Champale. (IMO)
>
>
>
bobbyblue
of cowardice. whatever crime you did, fess up to it, do you think by
killing a child that you have somehow taken out the only witness to
your crime? Whatever crime you committed is only amplified by the
murder you commit afterwards..no youg life should be taken before it
even has a chance to grow.
venusdm...@yahoo.com (Venus de Milo) wrote in message
news:<e95caa59.02081...@posting.google.com>...
Deborah Terreson
----------
In article <3d57dba9$1...@nopics.sjc>, "Michael Snyder" <msn...@redhat.com>
wrote:
>
> Has anybody tried these "malt beverages" produced by the distillers,
> such as Smirnoff Ice etc.?
I tried a Mike's Hard Lemonade, but it was nasty. Haven't gotten to the malt
ice stuff yet, though I did have a customer give me a liter bottle of
Smirnoff.
>
>
>
Hope Munro Smith
Terreson" <foodNOTS...@attbi.com> wrote:
Yes, that stuff is disgusting. Why not just mix regular
beer with Sprite?
PETER BUONO
"Hope Munro Smith" <hop...@mail.utexas.edu> wrote in message
news:hopems-1208...@cs6625171-151.austin.rr.com...
I'll just stick to my pint of Killian's and a Diet Coke chaser:-D