In the cold of a February night in Philadelphia, the life of 30-year-old Alida Maria Cruz was violently extinguished. On February 22, 2014, Cruz and a companion, 35-year-old Antorie D. Coates, were shot to death inside a Ford Windstar van. The vehicle was then driven to the 4600 block of Trenton Avenue in the Frankford neighborhood, where the killer attempted to destroy the evidence by dousing the van in gasoline and setting it ablaze.
The fire burned the victims' bodies beyond recognition.
The investigation into the brutal double homicide led law enforcement to a man named William 'Pookie' Deputy. Believing that Coates had stolen several thousand dollars from him, Deputy, a drug dealer, confronted and killed him. It is believed that Cruz was an innocent bystander, tragically in the wrong place at the wrong time with Coates when Deputy exacted his revenge. Surveillance footage from a nearby auto-towing yard captured part of the gruesome events. An employee of the towing company testified that he saw Deputy preparing to set the van on fire and warned him that he was being recorded. Deputy then moved the van around the corner before an explosion was heard. He was seen on camera again, patting himself down as if he had been on fire.
A week later, on March 1, 2014, a large contingent of law enforcement officers, including Philadelphia and Upper Darby police as well as the U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force, descended upon a home in Upper Darby where Deputy was hiding. They found him cowering under a pile of blankets with fresh burn marks on his body and his beard singed off. Deputy, then 36, was arrested and charged with two counts of murder, arson, and related offenses.
In a poignant turn of events during the legal proceedings, the families of both Alida Cruz and Antorie Coates expressed their forgiveness toward the man who had taken their loved ones' lives. On September 9, 2015, William Deputy, then 38, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. In exchange for his plea, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. During the sentencing, Deputy wept openly as the victims' relatives gave their impact statements, and he offered a heartfelt apology to both his own family and the families of the victims. In a remarkable display of grace, after the court proceedings, the families of the victims and their killer embraced.
