In the late evening of January 3, 2017, 37-year-old Darryl Curtis was found murdered in his Philadelphia home on the 8000 block of Erdrick Street. Police discovered him on the floor of a rear bedroom with a fatal gunshot wound to his head. The initial investigation did not immediately reveal a motive for the killing, leaving a sense of uncertainty surrounding the violent act that had taken a man's life.
More than a month after the discovery of Curtis's body, investigators made a significant breakthrough in the case. On February 7, 2017, they arrested 27-year-old Andrew Holder at his home on the 4200 block of Marple Street, just blocks away from where the murder occurred. Holder was subsequently charged with murder, robbery, and other related offenses. At the time of his arrest, Holder was on probation for a prior drug case, and court documents began to suggest that robbery was a key factor in the slaying.
The investigation and subsequent legal proceedings revealed a more detailed and chilling narrative of the night Darryl Curtis was killed. Andrew Holder did not act alone. He had a co-defendant, Jamal Washington, who was the roommate of Curtis's girlfriend and lived in the same apartment building. On the evening of the murder, after Curtis was left alone in the apartment, Washington was in communication with Holder. Surveillance footage and GPS data from an electronic ankle monitor that Holder was wearing as a condition of his parole placed him at the scene. Washington was seen escorting Holder and another individual toward the apartment. Holder, armed with a pistol, entered the residence around 9:35 p.m., where he searched a safe before encountering Curtis in the bedroom and shooting him.
Andrew Holder and Jamal Washington were tried for their roles in the crime. Holder was ultimately convicted of third-degree murder, burglary, and conspiracy. For these crimes, he was sentenced to a term of seventeen and one-half to thirty-five years in prison. Jamal Washington was convicted of burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary for his part in orchestrating the events that led to the death of Darryl Curtis.
