In the quiet of a September evening in 2016, the life of 31-year-old Foday Cheeks was violently cut short in his Fawn Township, Pennsylvania, home. On the night of September 13th, while Cheeks was playing video games with two teenage boys, two armed intruders, a man and a woman, forced their way into the residence. The male assailant shot Cheeks almost immediately upon entering. Also present in the home was 26-year-old Danielle Taylor, who was in the kitchen at the time.
She too would not survive the night's horrific events.
The intruders were identified as Paul Henry III and his wife, Veronique Henry. After shooting Cheeks, they proceeded to hold the other occupants at gunpoint while they searched the house for drugs and money. Before they fled the scene, Danielle Taylor was fatally shot in the neck. The surviving witnesses were able to identify the couple, leading to their swift apprehension by law enforcement following a police chase that ended in a minor car crash. A search of their vehicle uncovered items belonging to the victims, including a wallet with Cheeks' identification and three handguns.
The aftermath of the home invasion saw the wheels of justice begin to turn, though not without their own tragic turns. Shortly after her arrest, Veronique Henry took her own life in her York County Prison cell. Paul Henry III, however, would face trial for the brutal slayings. In May of 2018, a jury found him guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and robbery. The prosecution sought the death penalty for his crimes.
The legal proceedings against Paul Henry III continued with a complex series of events regarding his sentencing. While he was initially sentenced to death, the sentence was later thrown out due to a technical error on the verdict slip. Despite this, the judge ruled that prosecutors could once again seek the death penalty. In the interim, Henry was set to serve a minimum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of Foday Cheeks and Danielle Taylor.
