Crimesider
Crimesider
August 13, 2012 8:17 AM

Pa. woman Na Cola Darcel Franklin accused of stabbing fiance to death hours before their wedding

By
Crimesider Staff
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Daily Blotter
CBS

(CBS/AP) HOKENDAUQUA, Pa. - Na Cola Darcel Franklin spent her weekend in jail when she was supposed to be celebrating her first days as a newlywed. She is accused of killing her fiancé at their eastern Pennsylvania apartment hours before they were to get married.

Franklin, 31, was charged with criminal homicide Saturday morning in the stabbing death of 36-year-old Billy Brewster in their Whitehall Township apartment. She seemed unable to grasp her fiancé's death during her arraignment by video from jail Saturday, when she reportedly pleaded to the judge, "You got to check again!"

District Judge Donna Butler told her that Brewster had been pronounced dead earlier, to which Franklin wailed and covered her face in her hands. When asked if she understood the homicide charge against her, Franklin wept and choked out the words one at a time.

"I ... did ... not ... kill ... him ... on ... purpose," she said, according to the Morning Call newspaper.

Franklin and Brewster were to be married at 10 a.m. Saturday, and police said they were called to the apartment shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday. They said they found Brewster bleeding from the torso as he lay on the landing outside his apartment.

Brewster was pronounced dead a little over an hour later at a hospital, District Attorney Jim Martin said. The Lehigh County coroner's office said a preliminary investigation revealed two stab wounds that resulted in a punctured heart.


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