On the evening of March 27, 2023, a grim discovery was made at a motel on Route 130 in Gloucester City, New Jersey, following a fire alarm at approximately 6:30 p.m. Responding police and firefighters found the bodies of 52-year-old Steven Smith, a male from Atco, New Jersey, and 56-year-old Tabitha Price of Gulf Shores, Alabama. Both individuals had sustained fatal gunshot wounds in what authorities would later describe as a double homicide.
As investigators delved into the circumstances surrounding the deaths, they also contended with a fire that had been intentionally set in a separate room of the same motel. The subsequent investigation led authorities to identify 53-year-old Vaughn Perkins of Philadelphia as the individual responsible for the arson.
Perkins was officially named a person of interest in the double homicide and was charged with aggravated arson.
The search for Perkins intensified, and on March 30, 2023, he was involved in another violent incident in Philadelphia, where he allegedly shot and wounded two people. Surveillance footage from this event helped law enforcement track his vehicle. Later that day, Pennsylvania State Police located Perkins's SUV in Berks County. A brief pursuit ended with his vehicle becoming disabled. Perkins, armed with a rifle, engaged in a standoff with police and was ultimately shot and killed by officers at the scene.
While the primary suspect in the murders of Steven Smith and Tabitha Price is now deceased, the motive for the killings remains under investigation by the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and the Gloucester City Police Department. Authorities have not publicly disclosed any known connection between Perkins and the two victims. The investigation into the double homicide continues.
