Woman arrested after victim found shot, stabbed, handcuffed
PHILADELPHIA -- Police made an arrest after a woman was found handcuffed, stabbed and shot last week at a Philadelphia park.
The body of 26-year-old Toy Charda Bryant was found face down in Fairmount Park. She had been shot in the back of the head and repeatedly stabbed.
Investigators say the body was likely dumped in the park and showed signs of defensive wounds, indicating the victim fought for her life.
Police Capt. James Clark tells KYW-TV that 39-year-old Shavon Armstrong of Wilkes Barre was arrested over the weekend and faces charges including murder and kidnapping. Another woman, who police are calling a person of interest, is being interviewed, reports CBS Philly. Police suspect the woman of firing the fatal shot, the station reports, and she's expected to be charged soon with murder.
Clark says Armstrong, also known as Palliadium Smith, helped drive Bryant to the park and helped "plan and orchestrate" her killing. Clark called the slaying "tragic and vicious" in an interview with CBS Philadelphia. He said Bryant was brutalized before she was killed, stabbed repeatedly "not to kill her..but just to hurt her and torture her."
Clark said the woman's killers then stuffed a rag in her mouth and attempted to suffocate her, and then forced her to her knees and shot her in the back of the head.
Clark told CBS Philadelphia he believes Brant was killed over a debt. Bryant owed the person of interest roughly $800 and couldn't pay, he said.
It's not known if Armstrong has a lawyer.
Clark says that Bryant and her alleged killers were longtime friends.