March 24, 2004 12:00am
Photographer & Assistant Charged in Taylor Summers Murder
Source: AP
by: Company Press Release
(WHITEMARSH, PA) -- Prosecutors have charged a Montgomery County photographer with murdering a woman believed to be 23 year old Canadian model Taylor Summers, missing for nearly a month.
Anthony Joseph Frederick, 46, of Eagleville, was charged with first and third degree murder, abuse of a corpse and possessing an instrument of crime. He was also charged with lying to authorities.
Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor said prosecutors were certain the victim was actress and model Natel King, also known by the stage name Taylor Summers. King had gone to Conshohocken for a photo shoot.
The woman died of multiple stab wounds to the chest and neck, and her body was wrapped in a backdrop similar to the type used by photographers, Castor said. He said she also suffered wounds on her hands.
"Obviously, she put up a fight against her attacker," Castor said. "I believe, and investigators believe, that she met her demise at the hands of Anthony Frederick, as part of a sexual bondage fantasy."
However, Castor said, there may also have been a dispute over money.
Another woman, identified as Jennifer Mitkus, 29, of Oaks, was also charged with lying to authorities and hindering apprehension, Castor said. Authorities believe she had acted as an assistant to the photographer.
Frederick told investigators he took 20 digital photos of King on Feb. 29. He and Mitkus said she was paid $900 and left.
In photos Frederick provided, the woman was displaying bondage paraphernalia similar to that found with the body, and the photos showed a tattoo and a birthmark similar to marks found on the body, Castor said.
In a studio used by Frederick, Castor said authorities found "a handwritten poem dealing with cutting and bleeding."
Castor said the poem read:
"Cut with a knife,
Blood does flow
You may bleed out,
Death coming on slow..."
But he didn't know whose handwriting the verse was in.
Frederick was arrested around midnight, less than a day after the body was found near the Schuylkill River in Whitemarsh Township, Castor said.
It was not immediately clear Wednesday afternoon if Frederick or Mitkus had obtained attorneys and they could not be reached for comment.
The woman had come to Conshohocken for a photo shoot and was last seen in the area with the photographer on Feb. 29. That was the last time she called any family or friends, authorities said. Her car was found parked on a Conshohocken street a few days later.
The body was found in a rocky, heavily wooded area near the river, about 30 feet from a road, with a severe gash on one hand.
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