Charles H. Laughead, a 24-year-old male, was killed on March 1, 1969, in Chester, Pennsylvania. Online memorial and cemetery records identify him as Charles H. Laughead, born in 1944 and buried at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Cemetery in Linwood, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. A gun-violence memorial lists his death as a fatal shooting in Chester on that date, while a later newspaper clipping connected to the case gives his address as 1136-A Haverford Road in Ridley Township.
The
case unfolded around a deadly encounter at 5th and Butler Streets in Chester. According to the available newspaper account, Laughead was lured to that location by Arthur Coard, who was dressed as a woman. Once there, Laughead was shot to death. The reporting framed the killing as a coordinated crime rather than an isolated street shooting, with multiple young men later tied to the slaying.
James T. Greene, also known as Bobby Greene, of Middletown, Delaware, was identified in the newspaper coverage as the triggerman in Laughead’s killing. He was convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the March 1, 1969 shooting death. In December 1970, Greene was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Graterford correctional institution near Norristown. His conviction did not end with the trial court; the Pennsylvania Supreme Court later upheld it, leaving the life sentence in place.
Two other men were also convicted in connection with the crime. George McNair, 23, of the 300 block of East 5th Street in Chester, pleaded guilty to “murder generally” and was sentenced to 7½ to 15 years in prison for second-degree murder. Arthur Coard, 18, also of the 300 block of East 5th Street in Chester, was convicted of second-degree murder in January 1970 and received a sentence of 7½ to 15 years in jail.
The surviving online record is limited, but the available pieces show that Laughead’s death was investigated and prosecuted. Greene was treated as the principal shooter and received the harshest punishment, while McNair and Coard were held criminally responsible for their roles in the killing. Coard’s role appears especially significant because the newspaper account says he helped draw Laughead to the place where he was killed.
