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Dwight Williams was charged with First-Degree Murder and Third-Degree Murder for the death of 67-year-old inmate Ashokkumar Guru in his cell on Sunday, Aug. 4, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Pennsylvania State Police Captain Gerard B. McShea.
They gave the following account of the attack:
- Correctional officers were alerted at 9:31 a.m. by an inmate that he had returned to his cell and found his cellmate Guru unresponsive.
- Correctional officers responded to the cell and found Guru had been beaten but was still alive. There was blood on Guru’s face and blood on a box near Guru, consistent with an attack.
- Officers immediately began CPR, which was continued by arriving EMS personnel. Despite the lifesaving measures, Guru was pronounced dead at 10:24 a.m.
Detectives and troopers reviewed surveillance video and found that Guru’s cellmate was not in his cell at the time of the incident. At 9:12 a.m., Guru is seen leaving his cell to fill his water bottle across the cellblock and then returns straightaway.
At 9:16 a.m., Williams can be seen entering Guru’s cell, then exiting at 9:25 a.m. At 9:29 a.m., Williams is seen entering his own cell, and a red substance can be seen on the bottom of his left sneaker. Williams leaves his cell a few minutes later holding a brown paper bag and tries to get another inmate to discard the bag immediately, but the cellblock had already been locked down. Investigators recovered the paper bag and found it contained a white Fila sneaker.
The investigation also found that another inmate had witnessed the attack on Guru.
An autopsy was performed by Dr. Khalil Wardak, a forensic pathologist with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. Dr. Wardak found the cause of death was blunt impact injuries and the manner of death was homicide.
Guru was serving a life sentence for First Degree Murder following a Philadelphia County conviction, according to prison officials. He arrived at SCI Phoenix on December 22, 2021.
Williams is awaiting arraignment on the charges, at which time a preliminary hearing date will be set. He remained at SCI Phoenix.
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