Patricia McDermott was killed by serial killer Juan Covington

Center City, a dynamic business and historic district in Philadelphia, is known as a safe and relatively crime-free area.

It’s minutes from the art museum where Sylvester Stallone’s main character lives Rocky running up the stairs in the movie. But on May 17, 2005, this area was associated with a much more sinister event.

Around 5 a.m., Patricia McDermott, 48, was found face down on the sidewalk “with a gunshot wound to the head,” said Lt. Joe Maum, a former lieutenant with the Philadelphia Police Department.

“She was already pronounced dead by the rescuers who were still on the scene,” Maum said in the episode “The Center City Devil” Philly Homicidewhich will air every Saturday at 9:00 p.m Oxygen.

While searching for McDermott’s killer, detectives were shocked to learn that the case was connected to several other murders.

Police are questioning Patricia McDermott’s husband

The operatives found out that Amarkhanov has a criminal past, including for burglary and drugs. “He did some time in prison,” Maum said.

There were no violent crimes in Amarkhanov’s rehearsal. “Patricia had a life insurance policy and that could have been the motivation,” Boyle said. “George’s alibi was that he was at home at the time of the murder.”

Angela Amarkhanova, daughter of McDermott and Amarkhanova, said Philly Homicide: “My dad was in a car accident when I was a kid.” She added that the accident was “tremendously life-changing” for her parents.

“He had trouble walking, breathing, talking, so they weren’t together when my mom was killed,” Angela said.

Surveillance video shows Patricia McDermott being shot

McDermott was shot and killed outside a US Postal Service office building. CCTV cameras mounted on the building monitored the sidewalk and street below.

At 9 a.m. on May 17, detectives entered the post office and gained access to the building’s surveillance footage.

The grainy video shows McDermott walking down the street. It also showed a person walking behind and “coming closer, closer, closer,” Boyle said.

“It’s not often that we can get video … that actually shows a murder,” Boyle added.

Surveillance footage shows the man pulling out a gun and aiming it at McDermott. “He shot her in the back of the head,” Maum said.

“I had been a police officer for about 32 years at that point,” Maum added. “I’ve never actually seen anyone executed. That’s what it was.”

The crime shocked the law enforcement agencies. “When I first saw the video, I was horrified,” said Richard Ross, a retired captain with the Philadelphia Police Department. “I was also angry that someone could take a life in such a brazen, evil way.”

Apart from his alibi, which was confirmed, the video excludes that Amarkhanov was the shooter. He walked with a pronounced limp. The sharp shooter fled the scene.

The detectives team up with the NFL

The investigators had a relationship with the production company NFL Films. Detectives added grainy footage to improve its quality.

Police weren’t able to get a good picture of what the shooter looked like, but they were able to see the gun flash and the shell casing explode.

Faced with a “needle in a haystack” search, they were able to retrieve a spent shell casing from a .380 pistol from under a metal grate on the sidewalk.

He was sent to the firearms identification department. “We didn’t have a ballistic match with that,” Boyle said. “But we still had strong evidence.”

Patricia McDermott’s daily commute tracking

Detectives learned that in the morning, McDermott boarded a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) bus in Montgomery County, where she lived, and drove downtown. She got off the bus at 11th Street and then walked the five blocks to her job.

The route driver was out of the country and could not share any information he might have. While they waited for him to return, police interviewed passengers on McDermott’s route.

One witness recalled a man getting off the bus at the same stop as McDermott. She described the suspect to a police artist.

The picture was released through the press, but no clues emerged. Detectives continued to work the case and McDermott was buried.

“The funeral was strangely quiet to me because people were so upset,” said Natalie Pompilio, a former staff writer. The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I remember just watching it and thinking, ‘Oh my God, that could be anybody’s mom.’

After the SEPTA bus driver returned to work, he was interviewed by detectives. He recalled that Juan Covington, a former SEPTA employee, got off at the Center City bus stop with McDermott the morning she was killed. The driver told detectives that Covington had “anger issues.”

Investigators learned that Covington had developed an interest in another SEPTA bus driver, Brenwanda Smith, who made it clear to him that the feelings were not mutual. Later she disappeared into thin air.

Juan Covington becomes the prime suspect in the Patricia McDermott case murder

Covington was eventually taken into custody after being arrested for carrying a 9mm handgun with an illegally stamped serial number.

Boyle questioned the suspect and learned that he worked for a hospital waste disposal company. His route included Pennsylvania Hospital, McDermott’s place of work.

Police reviewed security camera footage from a Pennsylvania hospital and saw that Covington was there the day McDermott was killed.

“He’s wearing the same clothes as in the original post office video,” Boyle said. “I said, ‘Oh my God, we’ve got him.'”

Juan Covington’s shocking confession

Covington admitted to police that he killed McDermott, but claimed it was self-defense. He said McDermott pointed an X-ray machine at him and sent radiation through his body.

“The forensic psychiatrist diagnosed him with severe mental illness and schizophrenia,” said criminal defense attorney Chuck Peruto.

Despite this diagnosis, the court ruled that Covington’s confession would be admissible Philly Homicide hosted by Chris McMullen.

The case took a dramatic turn when a rifle with a hidden serial number was linked to other murders. A subsequent search of Covington’s home turned up an arsenal of handguns and rifles.

The weapon was linked to the murders of Reverend Thomas Lee Devlin and Odies Bosquet, and the shootings of David Stewart and William Bryant, who both survived.

“We thought the person responsible for Patricia McDermott’s death was one person, an isolated incident,” Ross said. “We had no idea it had anything to do with a serial killer.”

Covington believed that the minister had put a curse on him. “He believed the other victims … were devils, so he had to shoot them,” Boyle said. Covington did not say anything about Brenwanda Smith, whose case is still pending.

For attacks on Stewart and Bryant. Covington received 20 to 40 years in prison. For the murders of Devlin, Bosquet and McDermott, Covington received three life sentences without parole.

For more on The Center City Devil case, watch Philly Homicidewhich will air every Saturday at 9:00 p.m Oxygen.