Pennsylvania Man Killed Romantic Partner and Burned His Body to Cover Up Their Relationship
Calling the 2022 murder of Naasire Johnson, 20, a hate crime, the DA said he was killed "because he was gay" and Kylen Pratt "did not want anyone to find out"
Philadelphia Police Department; Philadelphia District Attorney's Office
Kylen Pratt (left); Naasire JohnsonA Pennsylvania man was sentenced to life in prison for killing his romantic partner and burning his body to cover up their relationship, authorities said
On Friday, Sept. 27, a Philadelphia jury convicted Kylen Pratt, 23, of first-degree murder for the brutal 2022 slaying of Naasire Johnson, 20
“Make no mistake,” Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope said in a statement. “The murder of Naasire Johnson was a hate crime. Kylen Pratt did not want anyone to know of his romantic involvement with the victim”
A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to life in prison for killing his romantic partner and burning his body to cover up their relationship, authorities said.
On Friday, Sept. 27, a Philadelphia jury convicted Kylen Pratt, 23, of first-degree murder for the brutal 2022 slaying of Naasire Johnson, 20, in the city’s Brewerytown section, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office announced in a statement.
Following his conviction, a judge sentenced Pratt to a mandatory sentence of life in state incarceration without the possibility of parole followed by a consecutive period of 4.5 to 9 years.
The murder is considered a hate crime because Pratt was in a romantic relationship with Johnson at the time of the murder, prosecutors said.
"This is an individual who was killed because he was gay and because the man who killed him did not want anyone to find out that he was in a relationship with him," Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope said at a press conference Monday, local outlet WPVI reported.
“Make no mistake,” Pope said in the statement. “The murder of Naasire Johnson was a hate crime. Kylen Pratt did not want anyone to know of his romantic involvement with the victim.”
Authorities were able to solve the crime based on someone who provided the anonymous tip, she said.
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Investigators learned that in the early morning hours of Feb. 17, 2022, Johnson took an Uber from his family’s West Philadelphia residence to Pratt’s home on Oxford Street, prosecutors said in the statement.
“Pratt shot Johnson in the neck shortly after the victim’s arrival,” the statement continued, further noting that he then transported Johnson’s body to a remote trail in Fairmount Park and set the corpse on fire.
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