A man is accused of decapitating a woman inside a Northeast Philadelphia home.
Ahmad Shareef, 34, was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder, possession of an instrument of crime and abuse of corpse.
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Police responded to a home along the 300 block of Magee Avenue around 12:45 p.m. Tuesday after receiving a 911 call. When they arrived they found the body of the 41-year-old woman with a severed head on the kitchen floor.
Philadelphia police later identified her as Leila Al Raheel.
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"Upon arrival, we found a witness as well as a victim laying on the floor inside," Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Michael McCarrick said. "As a result of discussion with the witness, we identified a person of interest who has subsequently been detained."
Police said Shareef fled on foot and was captured about six blocks away from the home near Robbins and Rising Sun avenues.
Investigators told NBC10 Raheel was in a domestic partnership with Shareef and lived with him inside the home.
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"The woman...they treat her like a slave," Nyjha Richardson, a neighbor, told NBC10. "She runs in and out of the house barefoot. She really never goes anywhere else. She carries all of their bags in. They scream at her."
Shareef is currently in custody and ineligible for bail.
Richardson said she had witnessed several problems at the home in the past, including Shareef running outside half naked and threatening neighbors to the point in which one family moved away.
"There's always fights," Richardson said. "Always quarrels. People in and out of the house constantly. It's never good. The yellow house is the worst house on the block!"
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HELP: The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or 800-787-3224 (TTY) provides people in distress, or those around them, with 24-hour support.
