Remains Found At Philly Arboretum In 2019 ID'd As Young Man Stabbed By BF: DA

Keshaun Sheffield, 20, of Philadelphia, has been charged with first-and third-degree murder, among other offenses, for the Aug. 19, 2019 murder of his boyfriend Rashid Young in Pottstown, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele announced Wednesday, June 1.

Young's remains, discovered on September 30, 2019, by a landscaper at Awbury Arboretum, had remained unidentified until Friday, when new information led to the identification using dental records, DA Steele said.

The investigation was reopened two weeks ago, authorities said, after a private investigator hired by the victim's family requested that the DA's detective bureau look into Young's disappearance, which was reported to Pottstown police in December 2019.

Sheffield, Young's boyfriend, has been accused of stabbing Young to death in Young's High Street apartment in Pottstown. He hid the murder by flooding the home before transporting Young's body in a recycling container to his Philadelphia apartment, and later burying Young's body at the arboretum with the help of a friend, the DA said.

Investigators believe Sheffield also tried to make others believe his partner was alive in the four months following his reported disappearance by communicating with Young's family through Young's social media profiles and cellphone, they said.

He also made several withdrawals from the Young's $2 million trust fund prior to his disappearance, and the account was frozen, prosecutors said.

“Since August 2019, a family has been searching for information about their missing son. Today, we shared with them the tragic details of his death and will be able to return his remains to them for a proper burial,” DA Steele said.

“This is yet another case of relationship violence that turned into a murder. People need to know that there is help available to them if they are in a violent relationship through Laurel House and the Women’s Center of Montgomery County.”

Sheffield is awaiting arraignment and bail is not expected to be granted. His preliminary hearing is pending.

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