Brother Of Murder Victim Helps Bring Killer To Justice
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A 36-year-old man has been sentenced to two life sentences for a double murder in a drug deal gone bad in West Philadelphia in 2009. One victim's brother took extraordinary steps to help track the killer and bring him to justice.
Prosecutor Richard Sax says defendant Shamsaddin Sallaam, known as 'Snap,' murdered 34-year-old Greg Jarvis to steal his brick of cocaine, and he murdered 57-year-old Harry Williams because he was there and he was a witness.
But Sax says Jarvis' brother, Andre, checked his brother's phone records leading up to the time of death, a number showed up repeatedly and he called it.
"He called him and said, 'I'm still breathing,' and the defendant hung up on him. He did it twice, hung up on him the second time. The third time he said, 'Yo snap, this is actually Andre, Jarvis' brother.'"
Sax says the two individuals continued to talk over a period of days and weeks. Sallaam made incriminating statements in the conversations -- and it was that evidence that helped convict him.
