September 1, 2025 • 50 mins
In the 1990s, the boundary between Fox Chase and Abington wasn’t just geographic, it was cultural. Fox Chase was gritty, tight-knit, and proud; Abington was cleaner, wealthier, and more restrained. The rivalry between teens from both sides simmered with class tension and pride, often exploding into fights. One winter night in 1994, that tension boiled over and turned violent.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
They have a gang with Sippy's young kids. With that,
I to seeing each other in the ninety nineties. The
line between fox Chase and Abington wasn't just a municipal boundary.
(00:55):
It was a dividing line between two worlds. On one side,
you had Fox Chase, a tight knit neighborhood in northeast
Philadelphia with row homes, Catholic parishes, and corner bars where
everybody knew your uncle. On the other, Abington Township was
a leafy stretch of Montgomery County suburbia with bigger houses,
cleaner streets, and schools that seemed to have more funding
(01:17):
and more rules. To kids growing up in fox Chase,
Abington might as well have been a foreign country. The
joke about how you could smell the suburbs as second
you cross the city line at Cheltenham Avenue. But underneath
the jokes was tension, the kind that could flare up
at the back parking lot of the Willow Grove Mall,
or after a Sunday night party when someone from the
(01:37):
other side showed up uninvited. The rivalry wasn't just about territory.
It was about pride, class, and reputation. Foxchase kids grew
up with a certain edge. Most came from working class
families where toughness was a virtue and loyalty wasn't optional.
Many had older brothers who fought the same fights, hung
out at the same pizza rays and playgrounds, and down
(02:00):
stories about brawls in the Holy Redeemer parking lot. A
lot of fox Chase was considered more middle class, but
compared to Abington, even these parts were seen as rougher.
Kids from Abington, especially those around Rosslyn and the High School,
were seen by fox Chase tains as soft, more privileged,
and more sheltered. But in Abington's eyes, the Foxchase crowd
(02:21):
was wild, unpredictable, and always looking to prove something. It
didn't take much to spark a fight. A sideways glance
at a bus stop, somebody flirting with the wrong girl
at a party, a shove in a skill hallway, or
a rumor passed down through friends of friends. Sometimes the
fights were planned somewhere impromptu, and then one winter night
(02:43):
in ninety ninety four, something snapped. That night, a group
of teenagers from Abington grammed into a car, gripping baseball
bats with numb fingers and tight jaws. Their breath fogged
up the windows as they drove into fox Chase. They
weren't looking to talk. They were looking for blood. Eddie
(03:18):
Pollock was a sixteen year old senior a Cardinal Dockerty
High School in fox Chase. By all coins, he was
the kind of kid that every parent hoped their child
would be friends with, the kind of teenager who still
said please and thank you, who showed up to Sunday
Mass without complaint. He had come from a family steped
in tradition. His father, John and older sister had both
(03:39):
walked the same hallways at Dockerty. His younger brother, Billy,
who was fourteen years old, had only just started as
freshman year there. It was the kind of family where
dinner was at the same time every night, and where
sports weren't just played, they were earned. Eddie wasn't the
kind of kid who coasted on natural talent. When he
wanted to join the wrestling he didn't just show up.
(04:01):
He trained. He filled plastic grocery bags with canned goods,
and then ran laps around the neighborhood a church. He
was an older boy with a sharp wit and a
grin that made even the grumpiest parishioners laugh. During a
service project delivering fruit baskets to the elderly, Eddie dropped
a full container of strawberries into the church parking lot
(04:23):
without missing a bait. He scooped them back up, brushed
them off, and then turned to the priest with a
grin and said, a little motor oil. Never heard anybody
that was just Edie. Earnest, funny, and unpolished in all
the right ways. He had a softness to him as well,
especially when it came to animals. It wasn't uncommon for
him to come home cradling a bird with a broken
(04:43):
wing or leading a limping stray dog by the collar.
He had a big heart that didn't know how to
turn away from something that was in pain. Weekends were sacred,
and not just for mass If you were looking for
Eddie on a Saturday afternoon, you would probably find him
at Foxchase Wreck simply known as the Wreck. It was
the heartbeat of the neighborhood, where local boys shot hoops,
(05:04):
swapped stories, and tried to act a little older than
they were. Eddie wasn't the best basketball player. His friends
loved to tease him about that, but he didn't care.
He loved the game and just loved being there. At
home games, he had a favorite spot, a large boxy
seating section above the east basket called the Looney Bin.
From here Eddie would shout down they guse friends on
(05:26):
the court and hackle them withinside jokes. One friend, Sharon Donohue,
put it simply, he was a nice guy, not like
the other boys. He was friends with everyone, and it
was true. Eddie wasn't flashy, he wasn't loud, He wasn't
the kind of teenager one would expect to end up
in headlines. He was just a good kid, the kind
(05:47):
who made people feel like they belonged, the kind who
brought humor to Sunday mornings and tenderness to broken winged birds,
The kind who should have had so much more time.
(06:07):
It was Friday night, the eleventh of November nineteen ninety
four in Fox Chase. That meant friend's fast food and curfews.
For Eddie Polock, it meant what it always meant, sticking
close to home, hanging out at the wreck, maybe grabbing
something to eat, and making it back home before eleven
thirty pm. He liked to end his nights the same way.
Every weekend, playing Poe with his dad in the basement,
(06:31):
eating pizza, just the two of them. That night, Eddie
was with his younger brother Billy, and a group of
their friends. Their mother, Kathy, had offered to cook dinner,
but the boys had other plans. McDonald's was calling. Kathy
handed each of them five dollars and dropped them off
at a friend's house. From there, they made the familiar
walk to the Fox Chase Wrecks Center, just across the
(06:53):
train tracks up Rockwell Avenue. It was just a typical
Friday night. After the wreck, they headed to work to McDonald's.
But that night something fell off. The sound came first, tires,
screeching engines, roaring headlights cutting across the parking lot like searchlights.
(07:13):
Then came the people. Car slammed to a stop and
doors burst open. Dozens of teenagers poured out of the cars,
and then dozens turned into scores. There were maybe seventy
of them. They spilled into the parking lot in waves, yelling, pacing,
and circling. The air crackled with something meaner and angrier.
(07:34):
They weren't there for fries or milkshakes. They were there
for a fight. They were there for blood. The feud
between fox Chase and Abington wasn't new. It had been
burning for decades, passed down from one class of teenagers
to the next like an ugly family heirloom. The border
between the two towns wasn't just asphalt and signage. It
(07:57):
was tribal, and sometimes that tribe turned toxic. Police Inspector
John Norris put it bluntly when he said, in the
old days you would have seen fistfights. There was a
terf psychology the northwest. But that's all over the northeast.
Except it wasn't over, not really. The tension had been
simmering and all it really needed was a spark. That
(08:21):
spark came a weak earlier. It started with a car
ride to Abington. Girls Diana and Jessica, were driving behind
a car of their male friends. The boys pulled into
the McDonald's parking lot across from the wreck, and the
girls followed. At first, it was just to stop for food.
A few minutes later, a couple of fox Chase boys
walked through the lot, flanked by the two girls. One
(08:44):
of them locked eyes with somebody from the Abington car.
What are you looking at? He said? Nothing? Man, Why
don't you keep walking? Came the reply, But it didn't
end there. Do you want to fight? Come on, we'll
take it back to the wreck. I'll fuck you up,
then I'll spit on your girl. The tone shifted. The
girls who had been with the Fox Chase boys peeled away,
(09:07):
and Diana and Jessica suddenly found themselves alone and outnumbered.
The parking lot filled in fast. Dinnah said it was
like they appeared from nowhere. There were thirty kids, maybe more.
She said. The boys we were with just took off.
They left us there. It was chaos. Diana said that
they were shoved, harassed, screamed that they were spit on.
(09:29):
Somebody hurled soda into their car. The two girls made
it back to their car and sped off. They went
home to Abington and told their friends what had happened,
but by the time the story made its way through
the hallways of Abington Heights, it had changed. Rumors spread
that the girls had been raped. Nobody could say by who, when,
(09:51):
or of it actually happened, but the rumor didn't need
details for it to stick. By the next weekend, the
boys at Abington were organizing. They start joking about renting
a U haul to head into the city. They weren't
going to wait for another chance encounter. So on Friday night,
November eleventh, the same night that Eddie Pollock was out
(10:11):
with his friends, three cars left the Willow Grove Park
mall loaded with boys. They weren't just coming to talk,
they were armed with baseball bats. On the way, more
cars joined in, one filled with girls, including Jessica and Diana.
The destination wasn't random. They were heading to the place
(10:32):
where it all began, Fox Chase McDonald's. Eddie and a
few of his friends and brother were still in the
McDonald's parking lot when the Abington teenagers arrived. They stormed
(10:52):
out of their vehicles. There were dozens of them, most
wielding baseball bats. Some had bottles, some more steal too boots,
some just had fists clenched tight. The screaming started, first slurs, threats,
demands to fight, and then came the smashing. Car windows shattered,
tires screeched again as cars repositioned. A group of fox
(11:17):
Chase teenagers hanging out nearby, and before they could react,
the violence erupted. A melli broke out, punches, flu bats, swung,
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(13:09):
and his friends didn't run it first. Sean later recalled,
it seemed like there were seventy of them. They kept coming.
Eddie and I didn't run it first. They didn't have
any reason to run. They hadn't done anything wrong. They
weren't part of whatever grudge had boiled over. They were
just there, caught in the middle. But the fight was
(13:29):
everywhere now. Fox Chase teens tried to escape on foot.
Abington teens gave chase by car, swerving up straights, hopping curbs,
prowling for targets, Eddie and his younger brother Billy, and
their friend Sean decided to get out of there and
walk home. They got through the parking lot of Saint
Cecelia's Church. It was a familiar place, quiet and usually safe,
(13:53):
but not tonight. As they crossed the lot, five cars
pulled in behind them. In formation slung open, and teenage
boys poured out, brandishing baseball bats. They turned on Eddie
and his friends. They took off on foot, but Eddie
was at the back. One bat swung hard towards his head.
He arched his back and narrowly dodged it, but then
(14:16):
Eddie's foot caught on something and he tripped over. He
hit the ground hard. Within seconds, they were on him.
Eddie was punched and kicked from every angle. He tried
to shield himself, curling in to himself, but it didn't matter.
They struck him with bats again and again. Some of
them wore steel toad boots and used them. Sharon Donahue
(14:38):
saw it all happen. She knew Edie. They'd worked near
each other at the Huntington Valley shopping center. Eddie cooked
at Boston Chicken with her uncle. Sharen worked part time
at Woolworth's. She and her friend Terry had been hanging
out when they heard the yelling, then the screaming. Then
they saw the crowd. Sharon started shouting, pleading, begging them
(14:59):
to stop. She watched on in horror as Eddie was
lifted by his arms and legs and swung back and
forth like a rag doll. He was then held up
in place as bats connected with his head and torso
they dropped him to the ground, but they kept going.
The sound was horrific. The crack of the bat on
Eddie's bones then came the silence. The attackers fled, rushing
(15:23):
back to their cars and speeding off into the night.
Sharon ran to Eddie's side. She dropped her knees and
cradled his head in her lap. His face was covered
in blood. One eye was shut and the other was
rolling uncontrollably. He wasn't speaking, he wasn't moving, but he
was still breathing. Sharon recalled, he was breathing kind of weird,
(15:45):
but I thought he was going to be all right.
That's what I kept telling him, It's going to be
all right. She screamed for help, for someone, anyone to
call nine one one She then ran to a payphone
and called police herself. Others had already called as well,
they're pack kase, they're really noisy inside the MacDonald's. In
(16:06):
the party, residents had come out of their homes to
see what the noise was. Some of them were already
on the phone with emergency services. People in McDonald's had
already called as well. I have a busy and I
deserved one of my customers windows, but nobody came. Five
minutes past ten fifteen, still nothing. It would be forty
(16:28):
minutes before help arrived. By then, Eddie's breaths were thin.
He was fading fast. Parmedics loaded him into an ambulance,
and their sirens broke the night. They sped towards Albert
Einstein Medical Center, but by then it was already too late.
Eddie died the next morning. He was just sixteen years old.
(16:52):
At the Medical Examiner's office, doctor ain Hood conducted the autopsy.
What he found was horrifying. Eddie had been struck in
the head at least eight times with a baseball bat.
His skull had been crushed so badly that doctor had
compared it to a dropped eggshell. There were half inch
gaps in the cranium. Defensive wounds showed that Eddie had
(17:12):
tried desperately to protect himself. The first blow had likely
stunned him. After that, he never stood a chance. Within
(17:34):
ours of Eddie Pollock's death, grief spilled into the streets
of fox Chase outside Saint Cecelia's Church, and makeshift memorial
began to grow. People left on floors, photographs, candles, handwritten letters.
The pavement was still stained with Eddie's blood. Somebody had
placed a small sign directly over the dried red streaks,
which read I believe in peace Long Crest. Even students
(17:59):
from having Toton High School brought a bouquet. The boundaries
that once divided the two neighborhoods, fox Chase and Abington
suddenly seemed relevant. For decades, kids on both sides had
traded punches, insults, and territorial pride, but nothing like this,
nothing that ended in a body on the church steps. Now,
(18:19):
the talk of rivalry was everywhere, but to those who
knew Edree, it didn't fit. He wasn't one of those kids.
His friend Sean said it best, It just hurts too
much and was never going to make sense. Eddie was
the most innocent guy you had ever meet. It shouldn't
have been him. The people who did it to him,
they were cowards. In the days that followed, Eddie's friends,
(18:43):
especially the ones who had been with him that night,
were left traumatized. They had to undergo counseling and some
of them struggled to sleep. And then there was the
threat of revenge. Whispers ran through Fox Chase. Detectives knew
the risk. They quickly put a plan in place to
prevent any retaliatory violence or vandalism. Extra patrols were stationed
(19:04):
on street corners. Clergy and social workers were called in
to talk with families. Time watch groups mobilized. Every effort
was made to keep the streets clam Even Pizza Hut
joined in their marquee, which was visible from the avenue,
read in bold block letters, please stop the violence. At
midnight curfew was even implemented, and police made it clear
(19:27):
the fighting had to end. Inspector John Norris stood before
the press and addressed the city directly when he said,
were urging all the parents to talk to their children
and know where they are this weekend and other weekends.
The message was urgent, almost pleading, and at the center
of it all was Edrie's family. Graving in public under
the weight of unbearable loss. They issued a statement not
(19:51):
for justice, not for revenge, but for peace. They asked
that no more blood be spilled in Eddie's name. Many
of the teenagers promised to honor that way, Some meant that,
some weren't so sure. One teenager said, if it weren't
for his family, those Abington kids would be dead. They
want blood. Another then added, I wouldn't have any problem
(20:13):
if one of those kids got killed. It didn't take
long for arrest to be made. The teenagers had taken
part in the savage baiting of Eddie Pollock weren't exactly
lying low. By the next morning, they were bragging about
what they'd done. Some are on town, other to friends
(20:35):
laughing about it. Eighteen year old Thomas Krook was the
first to be arrested. He confessed outright to being involved,
but he was quick to insist we didn't go down
there to kill anybody. Krook admitted to swinging a baseball
bat at Edie, but claimed he never struck him in
the head. He said he just got caught up in
(20:56):
the excitement. Krook lived in a townhouse complex with his
mother and younger siblings. He dropped out of Upper Moorland
High School and had a history of minor run ins
with the law. Later that same day, police arrested sixteen
year old Nicholas Pinero and seventeen year old Bou Kathavong.
Kathovong's family had fled warren torn Laos in nineteen eighty
(21:19):
escaping the threat of communist execution. The family had lived
in a refugee camp in Thailand before finally immigrating to
the United States in search of a better life. Now
their teenage son was being charged with murder. All three
boys were charged with murder, aggravated assault, and weapons offenses.
One of their defense attorneys tried to put the crime
(21:41):
into context, as he said, this is not a typical
street crime. Something happens in the space of a few seconds,
and a whole slew of lives are changed irrevocably. That
may have been true, but de EDI's family and friends
it was no excuse. On the sixteenth of November, almost
three thousand people packed into Saint Cecilia's Church for Eddie's funeral.
(22:03):
The same church were just days earlier, he'd been beaten
to death on the pavement the same church where he
had once served as an altar boy. His high school
classmates were brought in by bus. Abuse filled quickly, and
by ten a m. It was standing room only outside.
A broad metal casket arrived through the drizzle. Inside, Reverend
(22:24):
James Olsen stood at the altar and tried to find
the words. He told the mourners he was one of
the good guys, a real good person, a gentle person.
The priest remembered Eddie as a boy who couldn't sit
quite still during mass. His legs were too short to
touch the ground, so he'd swing them back and forth
the entire time. It was a memory that made people smile,
(22:46):
but it didn't last long. Olson then pleaded with the community,
don't let this death lead to more violence, don't let
it fuel revenge. After the service, a possession of more
than one hundred cars followed Eddie's hearse to Our Lady
Grace Cemetery and Langhorn. The rain came down harder as
the casket was lowered into the ground. His mother sobbed.
(23:08):
His friend stepped forward one by one, placing single floors
on top of the coffin. Then came the fallout. In
the days after Eddie's funeral, outrage spread not just at
the brutality of the murder, but at something else, the
emergency response that failed to come in time. It was
revealed that on the night that Eddie was killed, police
(23:30):
didn't arrive for forty minutes. After the first nine one
one call, people began asking would Eddie still be alive
if help had come sooner. At ten ten p m.
A waitress at the Pizza Hut on Oxford Avenue had
called nine one one. She saw teenagers piling out from
cars baseball bats in hand. They were chasing someone, but
(23:50):
she didn't know who. She called again and again they
have a gun away fifty's young kids with face to
see each other. More calls followed, What are they doing
bossing up the cars? Windows? There were they? One from
a man who tried to hold the phone out the
doors of the operator could hear the commotion he was
hung up on. Others described gangs of teenagers rampaging through
(24:15):
the neighborhood, smashing car windows, chasing others and beating people
with baseball bats. I don't believe it. It's wrang about
ten times. There's a big emotion going outside in front
of our home, like a gang. One caller told the
dispatcher of boys being beaten in the church parking lot gang.
(24:35):
If you get that, yeah, herd outside of the fight right, well,
that it and the point. Wait a minute, Wait a minute,
wait a minute, you asked me. I'm asking you. I
have the information. You can hang up now, the operator replied,
was that it? The calls just kept floating in. We've
(24:56):
been polling everybody. Murder has been falling there and we
got in there riot and no damn police where they
were becoming more desperate. When he is gonna send somebody
who's got a fat sirs, he's gotta stop some girl.
What's a honey moon? Wait a minute, wait a minute's
costing me like that? I asked you a questions, got
(25:18):
a friend if he laughed for white on his hands.
One office, Sharon Donahue, who held Atty's bloody head in
her lap as he struggled to Breathe had called nine
one one as well. She was frown thic screaming begging
for help. The operator snapped back, listen, if you don't
come though, he gets no help. Do you understand that
much sleep? He's a hospital, he's sleeping. Where's he? The
(25:42):
thing's please? I can't understand you give me an address this?
Where's that at? When I thrived him, Hosford was who guys, listen, listen.
If you don't calm down, he gets so help. You
got to say that, but I'm crying. In total, there
were thirty three calls made to nine to one one
(26:03):
that night, but no one at the police radio room
seemed to realize they were all related. The first officers
weren't dispatched until ten forty one pm. A patrol cars
in a wagon arrived two minutes later. An officer then
radioed in, he's going in and out of consciousness. Need
rescue immediately, but by then it was already too late. Hey, everybody,
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(30:29):
takers didn't make dispatched decisions. They simply typed what the
caller said into a computer screen. A separate dispatcher decided
whether or not to send the car. On that night,
the incident unfolding across Fox Chase was marked as low priority.
Mary Sante, president of the Taconi Town Watch, said nine
one one was a state of the art blooper. Her
(30:52):
group had kept logs on many nights. They tracked forty
five to one hundred and fifteen pending calls after eleven
p m. So I'm going back to five p m.
She' said. One major flaw was that the call takers
didn't even consider baseball bats to be weapons. When the
nine one one tapes were finally reviewed, the public was horrified.
(31:14):
Police Commissioner Richard Neale announced an internal investigation. Mayor ed
Randall's chief of staff, David Cohen, promised changes. He stated,
this incident was not handled properly. There will have to
be disciplinary actions and there will be reforms made to
the system. When you listen to the tapes, it's very
clear that some dispatchers behaved in a very inappropriate manner.
(31:38):
They were rude, and they didn't respond in a way
we should expect any municipal employees to respond to the public,
let alone a nine one one operator. What happened to
Eddie Pollock wasn't just a tragedy. It was a systemic failure,
from the gang violence to the late response to the
dismissed voices on the other end of a desperate phone call,
and now the city of Philadelphia left to reckon with
(32:01):
it all. The failures of the nine one one system
weren't the only aspect of the case drawing scrutiny. Attention
soon turned to the teenage girl at the center of
the original altercation, the fight outside the McDonald's that had
(32:21):
sparked everything. Her name was Jessica. After Eddie was murdered,
Jessica sat down with an interview at her family home
with her parents and reporters present. She answered some questions
but refused others. When asked whether she had talked in
Abington about the altercation she had at McDonald's, she didn't deny.
(32:42):
She stated anyone would go back and tell their friends
who wouldn't, But then she added something more serious. Me
and my friends didn't say anything about getting raped. Jessica
believed that it was the rape rumor that brought out
the people looking to fight, that it had given them
an excuse. She described the knight that Eddie was killed,
(33:03):
she and her friends had driven down to Fox Chase.
She said they pulled into the McDonald's parking lot, but
before they even got out, somebody threw rocks at their car,
so they left. Thank all, we left and didn't stay,
she said. Our friend Diana echoed this sentiment. I feel
bad for his family, for his mom and dad. I
feel bad for my friends too, for the whole situation,
(33:26):
she said. At that stage in the investigation, Homicide Captain
John Ablton made it clear what we're doing is checking
all of the facts. We will determine who is responsible
beside the three we have already arrested. That determination came quickly.
Three more teenagers were then arrested, seventeen year olds Dwan Alexander,
(33:48):
Anthony Rienzi, and Kevin Convey. Alexander was attending Leakside Youth Services,
a school for students expelled from other schools. Convey lived
in Meadowbanks, a wealthy neighborhood, hardly the place you'd expect
to find attain at the center of a fatal gang baiting.
By now, detectives believe they had the full picture. Bou
(34:11):
Kathafong had orchestrated the entire thing. He had organized the
five car loads of teenagers that descended on Fox Chase
that night. Kevin Convey had been the first to strike
Eddie with a baseball bat, then Thomas Crook swung his
Nicholas Ponero hit Eddie six more times. From the front,
Kathavong punched and kicked Edie, while Dewan Alexander kicked him
(34:34):
in the head with steel toed boots, and when Eddie
had crumpled to the ground, barely conscious and bleeding, Anthony
Rienzi dragged him up just so the others could get
another clean shot at him. Police source later commented, they're
problem kids. They've been busted numerous times, fights, marijuana, underage
drinking problems. They're involved in a lot of assaults. At
(34:58):
the same time, accountability was fine being addressed within the
nine one one center. Seven operators were disciplined, three were
suspended with the intent to dismiss, three others were suspended
and transferred. One was referred to a disciplinary board. Mayor
ed Randall stated, they're being suspended for abusive and rude
(35:18):
responses to callers. That is unacceptable. Reforms were then introduced.
The city hired more nine one one workers and launched
sensitivity training. A new alarm system was installed in the
radio room to alert supervisors when four or more calls
came from the same location. The number of shift supervisors
was doubled, but for Eddie's family, none of that mattered
(35:41):
much anymore. Days after the reforms were announced, police arrested
nineteen year old Carlos Johnson, the man who had supplied
the baseball bats used in the murder. At the preliminary hearing,
the judge ruled that all seven teenagers would stand trial
for murder. Those accused of wielding the baths. Pinero, Rihensay,
and Crook were held directly responsible for the fatal Blues
(36:05):
prosecutor Joseph Casey announced, I've never seen a skull so fractured.
I've never seen a skull where the brain expanded and
literally opened those fractures into crevices. In the year following
(36:26):
Eddie's murderer, the community rallied behind his family. Friends noticed
a change in his mother, Kathy. Her eyes, they said,
were different now. Matt MacDonald, one of Eddie's classmates, observed,
she has a sadness in her eyes. Now there's a
spark that's gone. Kathy eventually returned to work as a
(36:47):
skull crossing guard. It kept her near children. She always
carried a pocket full of candy, taffy and lollipops to
hand out. She needed to stay close to something good.
But she and Eddie's fa John never stopped asking why
we wonder if we understood the teachings of Catholicism right?
(37:07):
Kathy added, quietly, No way God would have meant for
this to happen. John struggled to reconcile the violence with
the world. He thought he knew they had every right
to see over the nine one one failure, but they
chose not to. John explained what everyone hears about is
a bunch of rude call takers. It wasn't the nine
one one people. The whole system could not get the
(37:29):
phone calls to the cars on the streets that night.
They didn't want money, and they didn't want a settlement.
They just wanted justice for their son. On the one
year anniversary of Eddie's murder, hundreds of people returned to
Saint Cethelia's church. A memorial mass was held, followed by
a candlelight vigil on the church steps. The crowd was
(37:49):
solemn and reflect them, and as they gathered, people began
to whisper amongst themselves about the upcoming murder trial and
whether justice would truly be served. The jury selection began
on the second of January nineteen ninety six. The seven
defendants were to stand trial together. However, Kevin Convey never
(38:10):
showed up in court. He accepted a play agreement and
pleaded guilty to third degree murderer, which carried a sentence
of five to twenty years in prison. Convey admitted that
he had landed the first blow on Airey that sent
him falling to the ground. As part of his deal,
he agreed to testify against his friends, friends who are
now facing life in prison if convicted. By the sixth
(38:33):
of January, a jury was selected, six African Americans, one
white juror, and one Hispanic. The trial was ready to begin.
The central question was whether the six youths had the
premeditated intent to kill, a requirement for first degree murder.
The defendants were escorted into court. They looked like college students,
(38:54):
dressed in sweaters, slacks, and collared shirts, a far cry
from the night they beat Eddie to death with baseball bats.
During opening statements, defense attorney Charles Perudo tried to portray
Eddie as the instigator. He described him as a beer
drinking tuff who sold beer to his friends from a keg.
He stated, Eddie sold his beer the kids gathered, the
(39:16):
spirit was mobbing. It was kind of like a pregame rally.
Another defense attorney, Michael Applebaum, went further. He claimed that
Eddie was part of the Fox Chase mob that provoked
the massive brawl. He stated, mister Pollock belonged to a
group of youths who turned up anyone who crossed their turf.
Prosecutor Joseph Casey refuted these claims, calling them an accurate
(39:40):
at best. Eddie's father, John added that his son had
been working the night of the McDonald's altercation involving the
two girls. I think mister Applebaum has ed mistaken for
someone else, he said. When Kevin Convey pleaded guilty, he
admitted that Eddie wasn't involved in any of the prior
clashes between the Abington and fox Chase groups. The defense's
(40:04):
arguments that Eddie wasn't innocent didn't hold up. It was
revealed that some defendants faced other charges from that same night.
Carlos Johnson was charged with slamming Richard Stubart at the
ground and smashing a bottle over his head. Pinero and
Alexander were charged with bating John Atkinson in the head
with baseball bats. These attacks happened in the moments before
(40:26):
Eddie was killed. The prosecutor then laid out the sequence
of events. Convie struck Eddie first, knocking him down. He
then hit him in the legs and fate before the
others joined in. Ransay struck Eddie in the head, crushing
the right side of his skull. Krook hit him three
more times on the shoulder. Then Riansy lifted Eddie up
(40:46):
by his shoulders and held him why. Pinero struck him
again and again with the baseball bat. Alexander kicked him
at least twice with the steel toed boot. Cathavong stood
nearby and cheered. Doctor Lucy rowan specialist, said that the
beating caused such extreme swelling in Eddie's brain that it
cut off blood flowed to his heart and lungs. Photographs
(41:08):
of Eddie's brain were then shown in court. His mother,
Kathy Leader, said, I'm glad they showed the pictures. The
jury has to see that, and the families of the
kids that did that have to see it too. Teenagers
then testified about the earlier incident at McDonald's. William Owner
admitted to being part of the Fox Chase group that
(41:28):
harassed Jessica and Diana confirmed that Eddie wasn't there. Other
teenagers then described the attack. Terence Nurse, a member of
the Abington group, said he was chasing someone else when
his friends attacked Debbie. He told the court what he
saw matched what the prosecution said and what convey said.
Defense attorney Perudo suggested that Terrence was only spared because
(41:51):
he agreed to testify. Terrence responded, I know what I saw.
Thomas Ruth testified that he was with friends at a
convenience when the Abington group pulled up. He said it
was clear that Cathafung was the leader and he heard
him yell, come on, let's go. I'm so sagged I
could kill somebody. The defense attorneys were aggressive in their
(42:12):
cross examinations. John Pollock, during a corporate commented, the Fox
Chase kids were doing nothing different that night than kids
in Fox Chase have done for thirty years. If that's
justification for them to murder him the way they did,
then there's something really screwed up with the justice system.
The other victims testified as well. John Atkinson had been
(42:34):
struck in the head at least ten times with the bat.
Fourteen months later, he still coldn't remember much. Prosecutors used
this Orgie that Eddie's death wasn't an isolated act. These
boys had come out looking for blood. Matthew Malone testified
that he witnessed John's attack. He had managed to drag
him to safety. He also saw Johnson grab Richard Stuber,
(42:56):
slam him to the ground, and hit him with a bottle.
The courtroom then fell silent as the prosecution's key witness
took to the stand, Kevin Convey. He recalled the last
moments of Eddie's life. I heard the boys say I
didn't do anything. He was kind of screaming and crying,
he said. Kathy Polock broke down sobbing in the front row.
(43:19):
In a surprise move, Convey named five other youths who
were involved in the fatal beating, Jason Maskewn, Jeffrey and
Jason Lang, kem Ones, and Ed Rodgers. He said that
they punched and kicked Errey before the bats came out.
He also said he saw Krook take the bat and
hit Edie several times, but Convey said he didn't see
(43:40):
Alexander Kathavong or Johnson near Edie during the attack. Their
defense attorneys clung to this, arguing that they were elsewhere
fighting other kids behind the church. In the second week
of the trial, two teenage girls, Michelle Betone and Teresa Welsh,
testified that it was Convey who may have delivered the
fatal blows. They said the first hit struck Eddie on
(44:01):
the head, and the attacker kept hitting until it was over.
They were referring to Convey as the trial drew to
a close. The defense struck to their arguments their clients
didn't kill Ede. They pointed the finger back at Kevin Comvey.
In his closing arguments, Prosecutor Casey rejected this narrative as
(44:22):
the big lie. He said that each of them were
guilty of first degree murder. He stated Eddie Polock was
on the ground pleading for his life when Nicholas Ponero
raised the bat over his head and snapped it. One
person by himself wouldn't have gone down to fox Chase
and done that, but together they did, so they are
all liable if they had shared the intent to kill.
(44:45):
The jury went into the liberation and they returned with
a verdict. Nicholas Ponero, Anthony Rienz, and Thomas Crook were
found guilty of third degree murder. Dewan Alexander was found
guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Carlos Johnson and Buchathavong were found
guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. Some jurors felt that
(45:06):
the prosecution hadn't proven the team set out to kill
that night. Others believed that at least two of the
defendants should have been acquitted, and some thought first degree
murder was warranted. They struck a compromise. Juror Lynn Pester,
Leader said you had to eat crow for everyone to
receive some sentence. We had to agree to something. It
(45:28):
came down to raise an and compromise, and nobody came
out a winner. Not the jurors, not the defendants, not
the district attorney, and definitely not the Pollocks. All the
defendants were given a second chance at life. Eddie's brother Billy,
said that his brother might have wanted it that way.
He said, my brother was the most forgiving person you'll
(45:51):
ever want to meet, and I wouldn't be surprised if
he didn't have a hand in this. Kevin Convey was
sentenced first, and victim impact statements were presented. Eddie's father,
John stood before the court room and addressed him directly,
(46:13):
your actions that night allowed my son to die. I
can never forgive you for that. Eddie's mother, Cathy followed.
Her voice was steady, but her pain was evident, as
she said, I wish I could say you've done the
honorable thing, but human nature being what it is, I
believe you had a need to survive. I believe everyone
has some decency in them. But I also believe the
(46:36):
need to survive is stronger. Then came Eddie's brother, Billy.
He spoke about the mornings why each one started with
the same aching thought. What could he have done differently?
What could he have done to change what happened that night.
He called Eddie a great friend and said the men
responsible had stripped him of that. Convey's defense attorney told
(46:59):
the court that his class and it was remorseful that
nothing could bring back Erie. The convey planned on writing
a letter to Edie's family. Then the judge handed down
the sentence twenty years in prison. The following month, it
was the rest of the defendants who faced sentencing. John
once again stood and spoke, all six of you slaughtered
(47:20):
my son. You took an innocent and real happy, go
lucky kid and bade his brains to a bloody pulp.
Don't stand up and turn around and look at me
or Kathy or Kirsty and Bill. We've heard you deny
this for months. If you're going to say you're sorry,
don't bother. Only two of them did, but Kathavong stood
(47:41):
and said, I'd just like to say to the polic family,
I'm sorry for my involvement in this whole incident. Thomas
Crook said, I want to say I'm sorry. I hope
my wrongdoings and my punishment will somehow help the next
generation see what's right and what's wrong. Then came the sentences.
Anthony Rienzi was sentenced to fifteen to thirty years, Thomas
(48:05):
Krook was sentenced to fourteen and a half to thirty years.
Nicholas Panero received ten to twenty years. Duan Alexander was
sentenced to eight to twenty years. Carlus Johnson and Bukathovong
both received five to ten years. All of the killers
have since been released. Dwan Alexander served nine years in prison,
(48:26):
Kevin Convey served seven years in prison, Carlus Johnson served
six years in prison, Boukathavong served ten years in prison.
Thomas Krook, Nick Panero, and Anthony Riense served fifteen years
in prison. In the wake of Eddie's murder, his father
(48:49):
John made a promise to himself that Eddie's death wouldn't
be for nothing. He began speaking to students at schools
and community events, urging them to think carefully about the
decisions they make and who they followed. He said to them,
my son didn't think anything would happen to him. Maybe
one kid sitting there has to make a choice in
the future. He never charged schools of fee. All he
(49:13):
asked was a contribution to the Lost Dreams Living Hope's Program,
an organization that created portraits of victims of fatal violence.
John also tried to push for legeddice of change in Pennsylvania.
He wanted the definition of first degree murder changed so
that a case like Eires could never again result in
what he saw as partial justice. That effort failed, but
(49:36):
John wasn't done. He studied nine one one dispatch records,
looking for every misstep that could have contributed to the
delay that night. When the city failed to act on
his findings, he threatened to soothe them, and he had
every right to, and in the end he forced change.
Training for nine one one dispatchers was overhauled with a
(49:57):
focus on stress management and better crisis response. Technology was upgraded,
including new mapping systems, better software, and computers inside patrol cars.
Supervision and oversight were improved across the board. City officials
finally admitted what everybody already knew. John Paulick had been
the driving force behind all of it. Through unimaginable loss,
(50:20):
he had become a fierce advocate, not just for his
own son, but for every son and daughter whose cries
for help might one day depend on the speed and
strength of the system. Eddie's life was stolen in a
senseless act of violence, but in his memory, his father
built something that would outlast the pain, something that might
say of someone else's child. And in doing so, John
(50:43):
kept a part of Eddie alive through change, through purpose,
and through the unwavering love of a father who refused
to let his son be forgotten. Well that is it
(51:18):
for this episode of Morbidology. As always, thank you so
much for listening, and i'd like to say a massive
thank you to my new supporters up on Patreon, Clara,
Heather and Samantha. The link to Patreon is in the
show notes. If you'd like to join, I upload adfree
and early release episodes behind the scenes, and I also
send out some kill merchant and thank you card. There's
also a bunch of bonus episodes of Morbidology plus that
(51:39):
are on on the regular podcast platforms. If you'd like
to support the show in another way, please consider leaving
a rating, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever
else you may be listening. It's a great way to
support a show that you like, and I genuinely do
appreciate the feedback. Remember to check us out at morebiology
dot com for more information about this episode and to
read some true crime articles. Until next time, take care
(52:01):
of yourselves, stay safe, and have an amazing week.
They have a gang with Sippy's young kids. With that,
I to seeing each other in the ninety nineties. The
line between fox Chase and Abington wasn't just a municipal boundary.
(00:55):
It was a dividing line between two worlds. On one side,
you had Fox Chase, a tight knit neighborhood in northeast
Philadelphia with row homes, Catholic parishes, and corner bars where
everybody knew your uncle. On the other, Abington Township was
a leafy stretch of Montgomery County suburbia with bigger houses,
cleaner streets, and schools that seemed to have more funding
(01:17):
and more rules. To kids growing up in fox Chase,
Abington might as well have been a foreign country. The
joke about how you could smell the suburbs as second
you cross the city line at Cheltenham Avenue. But underneath
the jokes was tension, the kind that could flare up
at the back parking lot of the Willow Grove Mall,
or after a Sunday night party when someone from the
(01:37):
other side showed up uninvited. The rivalry wasn't just about territory.
It was about pride, class, and reputation. Foxchase kids grew
up with a certain edge. Most came from working class
families where toughness was a virtue and loyalty wasn't optional.
Many had older brothers who fought the same fights, hung
out at the same pizza rays and playgrounds, and down
(02:00):
stories about brawls in the Holy Redeemer parking lot. A
lot of fox Chase was considered more middle class, but
compared to Abington, even these parts were seen as rougher.
Kids from Abington, especially those around Rosslyn and the High School,
were seen by fox Chase tains as soft, more privileged,
and more sheltered. But in Abington's eyes, the Foxchase crowd
(02:21):
was wild, unpredictable, and always looking to prove something. It
didn't take much to spark a fight. A sideways glance
at a bus stop, somebody flirting with the wrong girl
at a party, a shove in a skill hallway, or
a rumor passed down through friends of friends. Sometimes the
fights were planned somewhere impromptu, and then one winter night
(02:43):
in ninety ninety four, something snapped. That night, a group
of teenagers from Abington grammed into a car, gripping baseball
bats with numb fingers and tight jaws. Their breath fogged
up the windows as they drove into fox Chase. They
weren't looking to talk. They were looking for blood. Eddie
(03:18):
Pollock was a sixteen year old senior a Cardinal Dockerty
High School in fox Chase. By all coins, he was
the kind of kid that every parent hoped their child
would be friends with, the kind of teenager who still
said please and thank you, who showed up to Sunday
Mass without complaint. He had come from a family steped
in tradition. His father, John and older sister had both
(03:39):
walked the same hallways at Dockerty. His younger brother, Billy,
who was fourteen years old, had only just started as
freshman year there. It was the kind of family where
dinner was at the same time every night, and where
sports weren't just played, they were earned. Eddie wasn't the
kind of kid who coasted on natural talent. When he
wanted to join the wrestling he didn't just show up.
(04:01):
He trained. He filled plastic grocery bags with canned goods,
and then ran laps around the neighborhood a church. He
was an older boy with a sharp wit and a
grin that made even the grumpiest parishioners laugh. During a
service project delivering fruit baskets to the elderly, Eddie dropped
a full container of strawberries into the church parking lot
(04:23):
without missing a bait. He scooped them back up, brushed
them off, and then turned to the priest with a
grin and said, a little motor oil. Never heard anybody
that was just Edie. Earnest, funny, and unpolished in all
the right ways. He had a softness to him as well,
especially when it came to animals. It wasn't uncommon for
him to come home cradling a bird with a broken
(04:43):
wing or leading a limping stray dog by the collar.
He had a big heart that didn't know how to
turn away from something that was in pain. Weekends were sacred,
and not just for mass If you were looking for
Eddie on a Saturday afternoon, you would probably find him
at Foxchase Wreck simply known as the Wreck. It was
the heartbeat of the neighborhood, where local boys shot hoops,
(05:04):
swapped stories, and tried to act a little older than
they were. Eddie wasn't the best basketball player. His friends
loved to tease him about that, but he didn't care.
He loved the game and just loved being there. At
home games, he had a favorite spot, a large boxy
seating section above the east basket called the Looney Bin.
From here Eddie would shout down they guse friends on
(05:26):
the court and hackle them withinside jokes. One friend, Sharon Donohue,
put it simply, he was a nice guy, not like
the other boys. He was friends with everyone, and it
was true. Eddie wasn't flashy, he wasn't loud, He wasn't
the kind of teenager one would expect to end up
in headlines. He was just a good kid, the kind
(05:47):
who made people feel like they belonged, the kind who
brought humor to Sunday mornings and tenderness to broken winged birds,
The kind who should have had so much more time.
(06:07):
It was Friday night, the eleventh of November nineteen ninety
four in Fox Chase. That meant friend's fast food and curfews.
For Eddie Polock, it meant what it always meant, sticking
close to home, hanging out at the wreck, maybe grabbing
something to eat, and making it back home before eleven
thirty pm. He liked to end his nights the same way.
Every weekend, playing Poe with his dad in the basement,
(06:31):
eating pizza, just the two of them. That night, Eddie
was with his younger brother Billy, and a group of
their friends. Their mother, Kathy, had offered to cook dinner,
but the boys had other plans. McDonald's was calling. Kathy
handed each of them five dollars and dropped them off
at a friend's house. From there, they made the familiar
walk to the Fox Chase Wrecks Center, just across the
(06:53):
train tracks up Rockwell Avenue. It was just a typical
Friday night. After the wreck, they headed to work to McDonald's.
But that night something fell off. The sound came first, tires,
screeching engines, roaring headlights cutting across the parking lot like searchlights.
(07:13):
Then came the people. Car slammed to a stop and
doors burst open. Dozens of teenagers poured out of the cars,
and then dozens turned into scores. There were maybe seventy
of them. They spilled into the parking lot in waves, yelling, pacing,
and circling. The air crackled with something meaner and angrier.
(07:34):
They weren't there for fries or milkshakes. They were there
for a fight. They were there for blood. The feud
between fox Chase and Abington wasn't new. It had been
burning for decades, passed down from one class of teenagers
to the next like an ugly family heirloom. The border
between the two towns wasn't just asphalt and signage. It
(07:57):
was tribal, and sometimes that tribe turned toxic. Police Inspector
John Norris put it bluntly when he said, in the
old days you would have seen fistfights. There was a
terf psychology the northwest. But that's all over the northeast.
Except it wasn't over, not really. The tension had been
simmering and all it really needed was a spark. That
(08:21):
spark came a weak earlier. It started with a car
ride to Abington. Girls Diana and Jessica, were driving behind
a car of their male friends. The boys pulled into
the McDonald's parking lot across from the wreck, and the
girls followed. At first, it was just to stop for food.
A few minutes later, a couple of fox Chase boys
walked through the lot, flanked by the two girls. One
(08:44):
of them locked eyes with somebody from the Abington car.
What are you looking at? He said? Nothing? Man, Why
don't you keep walking? Came the reply, But it didn't
end there. Do you want to fight? Come on, we'll
take it back to the wreck. I'll fuck you up,
then I'll spit on your girl. The tone shifted. The
girls who had been with the Fox Chase boys peeled away,
(09:07):
and Diana and Jessica suddenly found themselves alone and outnumbered.
The parking lot filled in fast. Dinnah said it was
like they appeared from nowhere. There were thirty kids, maybe more.
She said. The boys we were with just took off.
They left us there. It was chaos. Diana said that
they were shoved, harassed, screamed that they were spit on.
(09:29):
Somebody hurled soda into their car. The two girls made
it back to their car and sped off. They went
home to Abington and told their friends what had happened,
but by the time the story made its way through
the hallways of Abington Heights, it had changed. Rumors spread
that the girls had been raped. Nobody could say by who, when,
(09:51):
or of it actually happened, but the rumor didn't need
details for it to stick. By the next weekend, the
boys at Abington were organizing. They start joking about renting
a U haul to head into the city. They weren't
going to wait for another chance encounter. So on Friday night,
November eleventh, the same night that Eddie Pollock was out
(10:11):
with his friends, three cars left the Willow Grove Park
mall loaded with boys. They weren't just coming to talk,
they were armed with baseball bats. On the way, more
cars joined in, one filled with girls, including Jessica and Diana.
The destination wasn't random. They were heading to the place
(10:32):
where it all began, Fox Chase McDonald's. Eddie and a
few of his friends and brother were still in the
McDonald's parking lot when the Abington teenagers arrived. They stormed
(10:52):
out of their vehicles. There were dozens of them, most
wielding baseball bats. Some had bottles, some more steal too boots,
some just had fists clenched tight. The screaming started, first slurs, threats,
demands to fight, and then came the smashing. Car windows shattered,
tires screeched again as cars repositioned. A group of fox
(11:17):
Chase teenagers hanging out nearby, and before they could react,
the violence erupted. A melli broke out, punches, flu bats, swung,
people ran. People who witnessed it said that it was
like a rioth. You've probably seen a million ads for
hair growth products and thought, sure, like that actually works.
(11:38):
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(13:09):
and his friends didn't run it first. Sean later recalled,
it seemed like there were seventy of them. They kept coming.
Eddie and I didn't run it first. They didn't have
any reason to run. They hadn't done anything wrong. They
weren't part of whatever grudge had boiled over. They were
just there, caught in the middle. But the fight was
(13:29):
everywhere now. Fox Chase teens tried to escape on foot.
Abington teens gave chase by car, swerving up straights, hopping curbs,
prowling for targets, Eddie and his younger brother Billy, and
their friend Sean decided to get out of there and
walk home. They got through the parking lot of Saint
Cecelia's Church. It was a familiar place, quiet and usually safe,
(13:53):
but not tonight. As they crossed the lot, five cars
pulled in behind them. In formation slung open, and teenage
boys poured out, brandishing baseball bats. They turned on Eddie
and his friends. They took off on foot, but Eddie
was at the back. One bat swung hard towards his head.
He arched his back and narrowly dodged it, but then
(14:16):
Eddie's foot caught on something and he tripped over. He
hit the ground hard. Within seconds, they were on him.
Eddie was punched and kicked from every angle. He tried
to shield himself, curling in to himself, but it didn't matter.
They struck him with bats again and again. Some of
them wore steel toad boots and used them. Sharon Donahue
(14:38):
saw it all happen. She knew Edie. They'd worked near
each other at the Huntington Valley shopping center. Eddie cooked
at Boston Chicken with her uncle. Sharen worked part time
at Woolworth's. She and her friend Terry had been hanging
out when they heard the yelling, then the screaming. Then
they saw the crowd. Sharon started shouting, pleading, begging them
(14:59):
to stop. She watched on in horror as Eddie was
lifted by his arms and legs and swung back and
forth like a rag doll. He was then held up
in place as bats connected with his head and torso
they dropped him to the ground, but they kept going.
The sound was horrific. The crack of the bat on
Eddie's bones then came the silence. The attackers fled, rushing
(15:23):
back to their cars and speeding off into the night.
Sharon ran to Eddie's side. She dropped her knees and
cradled his head in her lap. His face was covered
in blood. One eye was shut and the other was
rolling uncontrollably. He wasn't speaking, he wasn't moving, but he
was still breathing. Sharon recalled, he was breathing kind of weird,
(15:45):
but I thought he was going to be all right.
That's what I kept telling him, It's going to be
all right. She screamed for help, for someone, anyone to
call nine one one She then ran to a payphone
and called police herself. Others had already called as well,
they're pack kase, they're really noisy inside the MacDonald's. In
(16:06):
the party, residents had come out of their homes to
see what the noise was. Some of them were already
on the phone with emergency services. People in McDonald's had
already called as well. I have a busy and I
deserved one of my customers windows, but nobody came. Five
minutes past ten fifteen, still nothing. It would be forty
(16:28):
minutes before help arrived. By then, Eddie's breaths were thin.
He was fading fast. Parmedics loaded him into an ambulance,
and their sirens broke the night. They sped towards Albert
Einstein Medical Center, but by then it was already too late.
Eddie died the next morning. He was just sixteen years old.
(16:52):
At the Medical Examiner's office, doctor ain Hood conducted the autopsy.
What he found was horrifying. Eddie had been struck in
the head at least eight times with a baseball bat.
His skull had been crushed so badly that doctor had
compared it to a dropped eggshell. There were half inch
gaps in the cranium. Defensive wounds showed that Eddie had
(17:12):
tried desperately to protect himself. The first blow had likely
stunned him. After that, he never stood a chance. Within
(17:34):
ours of Eddie Pollock's death, grief spilled into the streets
of fox Chase outside Saint Cecelia's Church, and makeshift memorial
began to grow. People left on floors, photographs, candles, handwritten letters.
The pavement was still stained with Eddie's blood. Somebody had
placed a small sign directly over the dried red streaks,
which read I believe in peace Long Crest. Even students
(17:59):
from having Toton High School brought a bouquet. The boundaries
that once divided the two neighborhoods, fox Chase and Abington
suddenly seemed relevant. For decades, kids on both sides had
traded punches, insults, and territorial pride, but nothing like this,
nothing that ended in a body on the church steps. Now,
(18:19):
the talk of rivalry was everywhere, but to those who
knew Edree, it didn't fit. He wasn't one of those kids.
His friend Sean said it best, It just hurts too
much and was never going to make sense. Eddie was
the most innocent guy you had ever meet. It shouldn't
have been him. The people who did it to him,
they were cowards. In the days that followed, Eddie's friends,
(18:43):
especially the ones who had been with him that night,
were left traumatized. They had to undergo counseling and some
of them struggled to sleep. And then there was the
threat of revenge. Whispers ran through Fox Chase. Detectives knew
the risk. They quickly put a plan in place to
prevent any retaliatory violence or vandalism. Extra patrols were stationed
(19:04):
on street corners. Clergy and social workers were called in
to talk with families. Time watch groups mobilized. Every effort
was made to keep the streets clam Even Pizza Hut
joined in their marquee, which was visible from the avenue,
read in bold block letters, please stop the violence. At
midnight curfew was even implemented, and police made it clear
(19:27):
the fighting had to end. Inspector John Norris stood before
the press and addressed the city directly when he said,
were urging all the parents to talk to their children
and know where they are this weekend and other weekends.
The message was urgent, almost pleading, and at the center
of it all was Edrie's family. Graving in public under
the weight of unbearable loss. They issued a statement not
(19:51):
for justice, not for revenge, but for peace. They asked
that no more blood be spilled in Eddie's name. Many
of the teenagers promised to honor that way, Some meant that,
some weren't so sure. One teenager said, if it weren't
for his family, those Abington kids would be dead. They
want blood. Another then added, I wouldn't have any problem
(20:13):
if one of those kids got killed. It didn't take
long for arrest to be made. The teenagers had taken
part in the savage baiting of Eddie Pollock weren't exactly
lying low. By the next morning, they were bragging about
what they'd done. Some are on town, other to friends
(20:35):
laughing about it. Eighteen year old Thomas Krook was the
first to be arrested. He confessed outright to being involved,
but he was quick to insist we didn't go down
there to kill anybody. Krook admitted to swinging a baseball
bat at Edie, but claimed he never struck him in
the head. He said he just got caught up in
(20:56):
the excitement. Krook lived in a townhouse complex with his
mother and younger siblings. He dropped out of Upper Moorland
High School and had a history of minor run ins
with the law. Later that same day, police arrested sixteen
year old Nicholas Pinero and seventeen year old Bou Kathavong.
Kathovong's family had fled warren torn Laos in nineteen eighty
(21:19):
escaping the threat of communist execution. The family had lived
in a refugee camp in Thailand before finally immigrating to
the United States in search of a better life. Now
their teenage son was being charged with murder. All three
boys were charged with murder, aggravated assault, and weapons offenses.
One of their defense attorneys tried to put the crime
(21:41):
into context, as he said, this is not a typical
street crime. Something happens in the space of a few seconds,
and a whole slew of lives are changed irrevocably. That
may have been true, but de EDI's family and friends
it was no excuse. On the sixteenth of November, almost
three thousand people packed into Saint Cecilia's Church for Eddie's funeral.
(22:03):
The same church were just days earlier, he'd been beaten
to death on the pavement the same church where he
had once served as an altar boy. His high school
classmates were brought in by bus. Abuse filled quickly, and
by ten a m. It was standing room only outside.
A broad metal casket arrived through the drizzle. Inside, Reverend
(22:24):
James Olsen stood at the altar and tried to find
the words. He told the mourners he was one of
the good guys, a real good person, a gentle person.
The priest remembered Eddie as a boy who couldn't sit
quite still during mass. His legs were too short to
touch the ground, so he'd swing them back and forth
the entire time. It was a memory that made people smile,
(22:46):
but it didn't last long. Olson then pleaded with the community,
don't let this death lead to more violence, don't let
it fuel revenge. After the service, a possession of more
than one hundred cars followed Eddie's hearse to Our Lady
Grace Cemetery and Langhorn. The rain came down harder as
the casket was lowered into the ground. His mother sobbed.
(23:08):
His friend stepped forward one by one, placing single floors
on top of the coffin. Then came the fallout. In
the days after Eddie's funeral, outrage spread not just at
the brutality of the murder, but at something else, the
emergency response that failed to come in time. It was
revealed that on the night that Eddie was killed, police
(23:30):
didn't arrive for forty minutes. After the first nine one
one call, people began asking would Eddie still be alive
if help had come sooner. At ten ten p m.
A waitress at the Pizza Hut on Oxford Avenue had
called nine one one. She saw teenagers piling out from
cars baseball bats in hand. They were chasing someone, but
(23:50):
she didn't know who. She called again and again they
have a gun away fifty's young kids with face to
see each other. More calls followed, What are they doing
bossing up the cars? Windows? There were they? One from
a man who tried to hold the phone out the
doors of the operator could hear the commotion he was
hung up on. Others described gangs of teenagers rampaging through
(24:15):
the neighborhood, smashing car windows, chasing others and beating people
with baseball bats. I don't believe it. It's wrang about
ten times. There's a big emotion going outside in front
of our home, like a gang. One caller told the
dispatcher of boys being beaten in the church parking lot gang.
(24:35):
If you get that, yeah, herd outside of the fight right, well,
that it and the point. Wait a minute, Wait a minute,
wait a minute, you asked me. I'm asking you. I
have the information. You can hang up now, the operator replied,
was that it? The calls just kept floating in. We've
(24:56):
been polling everybody. Murder has been falling there and we
got in there riot and no damn police where they
were becoming more desperate. When he is gonna send somebody
who's got a fat sirs, he's gotta stop some girl.
What's a honey moon? Wait a minute, wait a minute's
costing me like that? I asked you a questions, got
(25:18):
a friend if he laughed for white on his hands.
One office, Sharon Donahue, who held Atty's bloody head in
her lap as he struggled to Breathe had called nine
one one as well. She was frown thic screaming begging
for help. The operator snapped back, listen, if you don't
come though, he gets no help. Do you understand that
much sleep? He's a hospital, he's sleeping. Where's he? The
(25:42):
thing's please? I can't understand you give me an address this?
Where's that at? When I thrived him, Hosford was who guys, listen, listen.
If you don't calm down, he gets so help. You
got to say that, but I'm crying. In total, there
were thirty three calls made to nine to one one
(26:03):
that night, but no one at the police radio room
seemed to realize they were all related. The first officers
weren't dispatched until ten forty one pm. A patrol cars
in a wagon arrived two minutes later. An officer then
radioed in, he's going in and out of consciousness. Need
rescue immediately, but by then it was already too late. Hey, everybody,
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That is ai RDCA t r pro dot com using
promo code morbidology. A high ranking POL official later tried
to explain what had gone wrong. He said the problem
wasn't just the delay, it was the system itself. In
(30:08):
the past, a person calling the police would speak to
an actual dispatcher, often a police officer, somebody who could
hear the fear in their voice and then judge the urgencies.
He stated. In those days, response time was two minutes
or less, but now ninety eight percent of the radio
room staff were civilians, many of them pearly trained. Call
(30:29):
takers didn't make dispatched decisions. They simply typed what the
caller said into a computer screen. A separate dispatcher decided
whether or not to send the car. On that night,
the incident unfolding across Fox Chase was marked as low priority.
Mary Sante, president of the Taconi Town Watch, said nine
one one was a state of the art blooper. Her
(30:52):
group had kept logs on many nights. They tracked forty
five to one hundred and fifteen pending calls after eleven
p m. So I'm going back to five p m.
She' said. One major flaw was that the call takers
didn't even consider baseball bats to be weapons. When the
nine one one tapes were finally reviewed, the public was horrified.
(31:14):
Police Commissioner Richard Neale announced an internal investigation. Mayor ed
Randall's chief of staff, David Cohen, promised changes. He stated,
this incident was not handled properly. There will have to
be disciplinary actions and there will be reforms made to
the system. When you listen to the tapes, it's very
clear that some dispatchers behaved in a very inappropriate manner.
(31:38):
They were rude, and they didn't respond in a way
we should expect any municipal employees to respond to the public,
let alone a nine one one operator. What happened to
Eddie Pollock wasn't just a tragedy. It was a systemic failure,
from the gang violence to the late response to the
dismissed voices on the other end of a desperate phone call,
and now the city of Philadelphia left to reckon with
(32:01):
it all. The failures of the nine one one system
weren't the only aspect of the case drawing scrutiny. Attention
soon turned to the teenage girl at the center of
the original altercation, the fight outside the McDonald's that had
(32:21):
sparked everything. Her name was Jessica. After Eddie was murdered,
Jessica sat down with an interview at her family home
with her parents and reporters present. She answered some questions
but refused others. When asked whether she had talked in
Abington about the altercation she had at McDonald's, she didn't deny.
(32:42):
She stated anyone would go back and tell their friends
who wouldn't, But then she added something more serious. Me
and my friends didn't say anything about getting raped. Jessica
believed that it was the rape rumor that brought out
the people looking to fight, that it had given them
an excuse. She described the knight that Eddie was killed,
(33:03):
she and her friends had driven down to Fox Chase.
She said they pulled into the McDonald's parking lot, but
before they even got out, somebody threw rocks at their car,
so they left. Thank all, we left and didn't stay,
she said. Our friend Diana echoed this sentiment. I feel
bad for his family, for his mom and dad. I
feel bad for my friends too, for the whole situation,
(33:26):
she said. At that stage in the investigation, Homicide Captain
John Ablton made it clear what we're doing is checking
all of the facts. We will determine who is responsible
beside the three we have already arrested. That determination came quickly.
Three more teenagers were then arrested, seventeen year olds Dwan Alexander,
(33:48):
Anthony Rienzi, and Kevin Convey. Alexander was attending Leakside Youth Services,
a school for students expelled from other schools. Convey lived
in Meadowbanks, a wealthy neighborhood, hardly the place you'd expect
to find attain at the center of a fatal gang baiting.
By now, detectives believe they had the full picture. Bou
(34:11):
Kathafong had orchestrated the entire thing. He had organized the
five car loads of teenagers that descended on Fox Chase
that night. Kevin Convey had been the first to strike
Eddie with a baseball bat, then Thomas Crook swung his
Nicholas Ponero hit Eddie six more times. From the front,
Kathavong punched and kicked Edie, while Dewan Alexander kicked him
(34:34):
in the head with steel toed boots, and when Eddie
had crumpled to the ground, barely conscious and bleeding, Anthony
Rienzi dragged him up just so the others could get
another clean shot at him. Police source later commented, they're
problem kids. They've been busted numerous times, fights, marijuana, underage
drinking problems. They're involved in a lot of assaults. At
(34:58):
the same time, accountability was fine being addressed within the
nine one one center. Seven operators were disciplined, three were
suspended with the intent to dismiss, three others were suspended
and transferred. One was referred to a disciplinary board. Mayor
ed Randall stated, they're being suspended for abusive and rude
(35:18):
responses to callers. That is unacceptable. Reforms were then introduced.
The city hired more nine one one workers and launched
sensitivity training. A new alarm system was installed in the
radio room to alert supervisors when four or more calls
came from the same location. The number of shift supervisors
was doubled, but for Eddie's family, none of that mattered
(35:41):
much anymore. Days after the reforms were announced, police arrested
nineteen year old Carlos Johnson, the man who had supplied
the baseball bats used in the murder. At the preliminary hearing,
the judge ruled that all seven teenagers would stand trial
for murder. Those accused of wielding the baths. Pinero, Rihensay,
and Crook were held directly responsible for the fatal Blues
(36:05):
prosecutor Joseph Casey announced, I've never seen a skull so fractured.
I've never seen a skull where the brain expanded and
literally opened those fractures into crevices. In the year following
(36:26):
Eddie's murderer, the community rallied behind his family. Friends noticed
a change in his mother, Kathy. Her eyes, they said,
were different now. Matt MacDonald, one of Eddie's classmates, observed,
she has a sadness in her eyes. Now there's a
spark that's gone. Kathy eventually returned to work as a
(36:47):
skull crossing guard. It kept her near children. She always
carried a pocket full of candy, taffy and lollipops to
hand out. She needed to stay close to something good.
But she and Eddie's fa John never stopped asking why
we wonder if we understood the teachings of Catholicism right?
(37:07):
Kathy added, quietly, No way God would have meant for
this to happen. John struggled to reconcile the violence with
the world. He thought he knew they had every right
to see over the nine one one failure, but they
chose not to. John explained what everyone hears about is
a bunch of rude call takers. It wasn't the nine
one one people. The whole system could not get the
(37:29):
phone calls to the cars on the streets that night.
They didn't want money, and they didn't want a settlement.
They just wanted justice for their son. On the one
year anniversary of Eddie's murder, hundreds of people returned to
Saint Cethelia's church. A memorial mass was held, followed by
a candlelight vigil on the church steps. The crowd was
(37:49):
solemn and reflect them, and as they gathered, people began
to whisper amongst themselves about the upcoming murder trial and
whether justice would truly be served. The jury selection began
on the second of January nineteen ninety six. The seven
defendants were to stand trial together. However, Kevin Convey never
(38:10):
showed up in court. He accepted a play agreement and
pleaded guilty to third degree murderer, which carried a sentence
of five to twenty years in prison. Convey admitted that
he had landed the first blow on Airey that sent
him falling to the ground. As part of his deal,
he agreed to testify against his friends, friends who are
now facing life in prison if convicted. By the sixth
(38:33):
of January, a jury was selected, six African Americans, one
white juror, and one Hispanic. The trial was ready to begin.
The central question was whether the six youths had the
premeditated intent to kill, a requirement for first degree murder.
The defendants were escorted into court. They looked like college students,
(38:54):
dressed in sweaters, slacks, and collared shirts, a far cry
from the night they beat Eddie to death with baseball bats.
During opening statements, defense attorney Charles Perudo tried to portray
Eddie as the instigator. He described him as a beer
drinking tuff who sold beer to his friends from a keg.
He stated, Eddie sold his beer the kids gathered, the
(39:16):
spirit was mobbing. It was kind of like a pregame rally.
Another defense attorney, Michael Applebaum, went further. He claimed that
Eddie was part of the Fox Chase mob that provoked
the massive brawl. He stated, mister Pollock belonged to a
group of youths who turned up anyone who crossed their turf.
Prosecutor Joseph Casey refuted these claims, calling them an accurate
(39:40):
at best. Eddie's father, John added that his son had
been working the night of the McDonald's altercation involving the
two girls. I think mister Applebaum has ed mistaken for
someone else, he said. When Kevin Convey pleaded guilty, he
admitted that Eddie wasn't involved in any of the prior
clashes between the Abington and fox Chase groups. The defense's
(40:04):
arguments that Eddie wasn't innocent didn't hold up. It was
revealed that some defendants faced other charges from that same night.
Carlos Johnson was charged with slamming Richard Stubart at the
ground and smashing a bottle over his head. Pinero and
Alexander were charged with bating John Atkinson in the head
with baseball bats. These attacks happened in the moments before
(40:26):
Eddie was killed. The prosecutor then laid out the sequence
of events. Convie struck Eddie first, knocking him down. He
then hit him in the legs and fate before the
others joined in. Ransay struck Eddie in the head, crushing
the right side of his skull. Krook hit him three
more times on the shoulder. Then Riansy lifted Eddie up
(40:46):
by his shoulders and held him why. Pinero struck him
again and again with the baseball bat. Alexander kicked him
at least twice with the steel toed boot. Cathavong stood
nearby and cheered. Doctor Lucy rowan specialist, said that the
beating caused such extreme swelling in Eddie's brain that it
cut off blood flowed to his heart and lungs. Photographs
(41:08):
of Eddie's brain were then shown in court. His mother,
Kathy Leader, said, I'm glad they showed the pictures. The
jury has to see that, and the families of the
kids that did that have to see it too. Teenagers
then testified about the earlier incident at McDonald's. William Owner
admitted to being part of the Fox Chase group that
(41:28):
harassed Jessica and Diana confirmed that Eddie wasn't there. Other
teenagers then described the attack. Terence Nurse, a member of
the Abington group, said he was chasing someone else when
his friends attacked Debbie. He told the court what he
saw matched what the prosecution said and what convey said.
Defense attorney Perudo suggested that Terrence was only spared because
(41:51):
he agreed to testify. Terrence responded, I know what I saw.
Thomas Ruth testified that he was with friends at a
convenience when the Abington group pulled up. He said it
was clear that Cathafung was the leader and he heard
him yell, come on, let's go. I'm so sagged I
could kill somebody. The defense attorneys were aggressive in their
(42:12):
cross examinations. John Pollock, during a corporate commented, the Fox
Chase kids were doing nothing different that night than kids
in Fox Chase have done for thirty years. If that's
justification for them to murder him the way they did,
then there's something really screwed up with the justice system.
The other victims testified as well. John Atkinson had been
(42:34):
struck in the head at least ten times with the bat.
Fourteen months later, he still coldn't remember much. Prosecutors used
this Orgie that Eddie's death wasn't an isolated act. These
boys had come out looking for blood. Matthew Malone testified
that he witnessed John's attack. He had managed to drag
him to safety. He also saw Johnson grab Richard Stuber,
(42:56):
slam him to the ground, and hit him with a bottle.
The courtroom then fell silent as the prosecution's key witness
took to the stand, Kevin Convey. He recalled the last
moments of Eddie's life. I heard the boys say I
didn't do anything. He was kind of screaming and crying,
he said. Kathy Polock broke down sobbing in the front row.
(43:19):
In a surprise move, Convey named five other youths who
were involved in the fatal beating, Jason Maskewn, Jeffrey and
Jason Lang, kem Ones, and Ed Rodgers. He said that
they punched and kicked Errey before the bats came out.
He also said he saw Krook take the bat and
hit Edie several times, but Convey said he didn't see
(43:40):
Alexander Kathavong or Johnson near Edie during the attack. Their
defense attorneys clung to this, arguing that they were elsewhere
fighting other kids behind the church. In the second week
of the trial, two teenage girls, Michelle Betone and Teresa Welsh,
testified that it was Convey who may have delivered the
fatal blows. They said the first hit struck Eddie on
(44:01):
the head, and the attacker kept hitting until it was over.
They were referring to Convey as the trial drew to
a close. The defense struck to their arguments their clients
didn't kill Ede. They pointed the finger back at Kevin Comvey.
In his closing arguments, Prosecutor Casey rejected this narrative as
(44:22):
the big lie. He said that each of them were
guilty of first degree murder. He stated Eddie Polock was
on the ground pleading for his life when Nicholas Ponero
raised the bat over his head and snapped it. One
person by himself wouldn't have gone down to fox Chase
and done that, but together they did, so they are
all liable if they had shared the intent to kill.
(44:45):
The jury went into the liberation and they returned with
a verdict. Nicholas Ponero, Anthony Rienz, and Thomas Crook were
found guilty of third degree murder. Dewan Alexander was found
guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Carlos Johnson and Buchathavong were found
guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. Some jurors felt that
(45:06):
the prosecution hadn't proven the team set out to kill
that night. Others believed that at least two of the
defendants should have been acquitted, and some thought first degree
murder was warranted. They struck a compromise. Juror Lynn Pester,
Leader said you had to eat crow for everyone to
receive some sentence. We had to agree to something. It
(45:28):
came down to raise an and compromise, and nobody came
out a winner. Not the jurors, not the defendants, not
the district attorney, and definitely not the Pollocks. All the
defendants were given a second chance at life. Eddie's brother Billy,
said that his brother might have wanted it that way.
He said, my brother was the most forgiving person you'll
(45:51):
ever want to meet, and I wouldn't be surprised if
he didn't have a hand in this. Kevin Convey was
sentenced first, and victim impact statements were presented. Eddie's father,
John stood before the court room and addressed him directly,
(46:13):
your actions that night allowed my son to die. I
can never forgive you for that. Eddie's mother, Cathy followed.
Her voice was steady, but her pain was evident, as
she said, I wish I could say you've done the
honorable thing, but human nature being what it is, I
believe you had a need to survive. I believe everyone
has some decency in them. But I also believe the
(46:36):
need to survive is stronger. Then came Eddie's brother, Billy.
He spoke about the mornings why each one started with
the same aching thought. What could he have done differently?
What could he have done to change what happened that night.
He called Eddie a great friend and said the men
responsible had stripped him of that. Convey's defense attorney told
(46:59):
the court that his class and it was remorseful that
nothing could bring back Erie. The convey planned on writing
a letter to Edie's family. Then the judge handed down
the sentence twenty years in prison. The following month, it
was the rest of the defendants who faced sentencing. John
once again stood and spoke, all six of you slaughtered
(47:20):
my son. You took an innocent and real happy, go
lucky kid and bade his brains to a bloody pulp.
Don't stand up and turn around and look at me
or Kathy or Kirsty and Bill. We've heard you deny
this for months. If you're going to say you're sorry,
don't bother. Only two of them did, but Kathavong stood
(47:41):
and said, I'd just like to say to the polic family,
I'm sorry for my involvement in this whole incident. Thomas
Crook said, I want to say I'm sorry. I hope
my wrongdoings and my punishment will somehow help the next
generation see what's right and what's wrong. Then came the sentences.
Anthony Rienzi was sentenced to fifteen to thirty years, Thomas
(48:05):
Krook was sentenced to fourteen and a half to thirty years.
Nicholas Panero received ten to twenty years. Duan Alexander was
sentenced to eight to twenty years. Carlus Johnson and Bukathovong
both received five to ten years. All of the killers
have since been released. Dwan Alexander served nine years in prison,
(48:26):
Kevin Convey served seven years in prison, Carlus Johnson served
six years in prison, Boukathavong served ten years in prison.
Thomas Krook, Nick Panero, and Anthony Riense served fifteen years
in prison. In the wake of Eddie's murder, his father
(48:49):
John made a promise to himself that Eddie's death wouldn't
be for nothing. He began speaking to students at schools
and community events, urging them to think carefully about the
decisions they make and who they followed. He said to them,
my son didn't think anything would happen to him. Maybe
one kid sitting there has to make a choice in
the future. He never charged schools of fee. All he
(49:13):
asked was a contribution to the Lost Dreams Living Hope's Program,
an organization that created portraits of victims of fatal violence.
John also tried to push for legeddice of change in Pennsylvania.
He wanted the definition of first degree murder changed so
that a case like Eires could never again result in
what he saw as partial justice. That effort failed, but
(49:36):
John wasn't done. He studied nine one one dispatch records,
looking for every misstep that could have contributed to the
delay that night. When the city failed to act on
his findings, he threatened to soothe them, and he had
every right to, and in the end he forced change.
Training for nine one one dispatchers was overhauled with a
(49:57):
focus on stress management and better crisis response. Technology was upgraded,
including new mapping systems, better software, and computers inside patrol cars.
Supervision and oversight were improved across the board. City officials
finally admitted what everybody already knew. John Paulick had been
the driving force behind all of it. Through unimaginable loss,
(50:20):
he had become a fierce advocate, not just for his
own son, but for every son and daughter whose cries
for help might one day depend on the speed and
strength of the system. Eddie's life was stolen in a
senseless act of violence, but in his memory, his father
built something that would outlast the pain, something that might
say of someone else's child. And in doing so, John
(50:43):
kept a part of Eddie alive through change, through purpose,
and through the unwavering love of a father who refused
to let his son be forgotten. Well that is it
(51:18):
for this episode of Morbidology. As always, thank you so
much for listening, and i'd like to say a massive
thank you to my new supporters up on Patreon, Clara,
Heather and Samantha. The link to Patreon is in the
show notes. If you'd like to join, I upload adfree
and early release episodes behind the scenes, and I also
send out some kill merchant and thank you card. There's
also a bunch of bonus episodes of Morbidology plus that
(51:39):
are on on the regular podcast platforms. If you'd like
to support the show in another way, please consider leaving
a rating, and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever
else you may be listening. It's a great way to
support a show that you like, and I genuinely do
appreciate the feedback. Remember to check us out at morebiology
dot com for more information about this episode and to
read some true crime articles. Until next time, take care
(52:01):
of yourselves, stay safe, and have an amazing week.
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