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

Minutes from the art museum where Sylvester Stallone’s title character is located Rocky I ran up the steps of the movie. But on May 17, 2005, the area was associated with a much worse incident.

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.

“He had already been pronounced dead by the rescue team who were still on the scene,” Maum said in the episode “The Center City Devil”. Philadelphia MurderIt airs on Saturdays at 21.00 Oxygen.

Detectives who tracked down McDermott’s killer were shocked to learn that the case was connected to several other murders.

Police question Patricia McDermott’s husband

Detectives learned Amarhanov had a criminal record that included theft and drug charges. “He spent some time in prison,” Maum said.

Amarkhanov’s criminal record did not include any violent crimes. “Patricia had a life insurance policy and that may have been a motivation,” Boyle said. “George’s alibi was that he was at home at the time of the murder.”

McDermott and Amarhanov’s daughter, Angela Amarhanov, said: Philadelphia Murder: “My father was in a car accident when I was a baby.” He added that the crash had “tremendously changed” his parents’ lives.

“He had difficulty walking, breathing and speaking, so they weren’t together when my mother was killed,” Angela said.

Surveillance video shows Patricia McDermott being shot

McDermott was shot outside a U.S. Postal Service office building. Security cameras mounted on the building monitored the sidewalk and the street below.

At 9 a.m. on May 17, detectives entered the post office and were able to access security footage of the building.

In the grainy video, McDermott is seen walking down the street. It also showed a person walking behind and “just continuing to get closer, closer, closer,” Boyle said.

“It’s not often that we see video that actually shows a murder being committed,” Boyle added.

Security footage showed what appeared to be a male pulling out a handgun and aiming at McDermott. “He shot him 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 seen anyone actually executed. “This is what happened.”

The crime sent shockwaves through law enforcement. “When I first saw this video, I was horrified,” said Richard Ross, a retired captain with the Philadelphia Police Department. “I was also angry that someone had taken a life in such a brazen, evil way.”

In the video, along with the confirmed alibi, the claim that Amarhanov was the shooter was denied. He walked with a noticeable limp. The agile shooter jumped from the scene.

The Girl in Tears Revisits the Day She Learned Her Mother Was Killed

Detectives are cooperating with the NFL

Investigators had ties to the NFL Films production company. Detectives brought in grainy video to improve its quality.

Police were unable to get a good picture of what the attacker looked like, but were able to observe the gun firing and the discharge of the shell casing.

Faced with searching for a needle in a haystack, the team managed to retrieve the spent casing of a .380 pistol from under a metal grate on the sidewalk.

It was sent to the Weapons Identification Branch Directorate. “We didn’t have a ballistic match on that one,” Boyle said. “But we still had solid evidence.”

Tracking Patricia McDermott’s daily commute

Detectives learned that McDermott boarded a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) bus in Montgomery County, where he lived, in the morning and headed to Center City. He got off the bus at 11th Street and walked five blocks to work.

The driver for the route was out of the country and unable to share any information he might have. While waiting for his return, police interviewed passengers on McDermott’s route.

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

The drawing was made public through the press, but no clues emerged. While McDermott was buried, detectives continued to work on the case.

“The funeral was strangely quiet, in my opinion, because people were so upset,” said Natalie Pompilio, a former staff writer. Philadelphia Researcher. “I remember watching this and thinking, ‘Oh my God, this could be anyone’s mother.'”

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

Investigators learned that Covington was interested in another SEPTA bus driver, Brenwanda Smith, and she informed him that the feeling was not mutual. He then disappeared.

Juan Covington becomes Patricia McDermott’s prime suspect murder

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

Boyle questioned the suspect and learned that he worked for a hospital waste collection company. His route included Pennsylvania Hospital, where McDermott worked.

Police reviewed security footage from Pennsylvania Hospital and found Covington was there the day McDermott was killed.

“He’s wearing the same clothes as in the original video at the post office,” Boyle said. “I said, ‘Oh my God, we 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 into his body.

“The court psychiatrist diagnosed him as severely mentally ill and schizophrenic,” said criminal defense attorney Chuck Peruto.

Despite this diagnosis, the court ruled that Covington’s confession was admissible. Philadelphia Murder Host Chris McMullen.

The case took a dramatic turn when the gun, whose serial number was hidden, was associated with other murders. A subsequent search of Covington’s home revealed an arsenal of handguns and rifles.

The guns were linked to the murders of Reverend Thomas Lee Devlin and Odies Bosket, as well as the shootings of survivors David Stewart and William Bryant.

“We thought the person responsible for Patricia McDermott’s death was a single person, an isolated incident,” Ross said. “We had no idea this was linked to a serial killer.”

Covington believed that the minister had cursed him. “He believed the other victims were evil, so he had to shoot them,” Boyle said. Covington has not revealed anything about Brenwanda Smith, whose case is still ongoing.

For the attacks on Stewart and Bryant. Covington was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison. For the murders of Devlin, Bosket, and McDermott, Covington received three life sentences with no chance of parole.

Watch the video to learn more about the “Central City Demon” case Philadelphia MurderIt airs on Saturdays at 21.00 Oxygen.