Police show up at the home of Elizabeth Shea. Authorities say her estranged husband, Kenneth Shea, inset, broke into her home and stabbed her to death. (Screenshot: WCAU; mug shot: Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office)
Months after choking his wife, a Pennsylvania man took an Uber to her home, broke in, and stabbed her to death, according to Montgomery County authorities in a press statement and court documents.
Kenneth Shea, 37, allegedly took another Uber back to his hotel room, but authorities said they tracked him down and arrested him there.
According to officials, the Springfield Township Police Department did a welfare check on Wednesday at the home of Elizabeth Shea, 57. Arriving at 7:27 a.m., they found the rear sliding glass door unlocked, but inside, the master bedroom was locked.
They forced their way through the door to find Elizabeth dead, with cuts to her head and neck. She was on the floor. Blood stained the bed. Montgomery County detectives noted blood in the home’s bathroom sink as if someone had tried to clean up.
“A joint investigation into the homicide by Montgomery County Detectives and Springfield Township Police determined that an air conditioning unit had been pushed inside the residence, allowing access through the window,” the DA’s office wrote. “In the residence, four hard drives from the home’s digital recording units and three cellphones had been discarded in the bathroom sink and toilet.”
Investigators uncovered a rocky history, noting domestic incidents between her and her estranged husband.
Kenneth had been charged with simple assault and strangulation for allegedly attacking Elizabeth in January. In March, the victim obtained a protection from abuse order against him. Kenneth Shea was also evicted from the home.
Investigators claim that early Wednesday, at 12:36 a.m., he got into an Uber at a Comfort Inn and was dropped off behind his estranged wife’s home at 12:55 a.m. Then another Uber picked him up at 3:37 a.m. and brought him back to the hotel at 3:58 a.m. Video surveillance showed him arriving and entering room 314 while wearing camouflage pants, they said.
His cellphone records allegedly showed his phone was in the area of the Comfort Inn in the days leading up to the killing and throughout the day on Wednesday. Bensalem police SWAT arrested him at the hotel room when he exited, prosecutors said.
“This is a tragic case, and our hearts go out to the family of Elizabeth Shea,” District Attorney Kenneth Steele said. “I also want to thank the Bensalem Police for the significant resources they provided, including drone surveillance and a K-9, as well as numerous officers, which enabled this defendant to be taken into custody without incident.”
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