Anthony Joyner

Case record

People

• Anthony Joyner — 22-year-old employee of the Kearsley Home; charged with the crime spree; convicted of rape and murder offenses.

Background

Between January and July 1983, six elderly women ranging from 80 to 92 years of age were raped and murdered at Philadelphia's Kearsley Home, the oldest nursing home in the United States.

The offence

Anthony Joyner was convicted of slayings of women aged 80 to 92 at the Kearsley Home.

• The victims whose bodies were described in connection with the charges included:
  • Eugenia Border, 90 — her body was found in her room.
  • Mildred Alston, 83 — her body was found in her room.
  • Kathryn Maxwell, 86 — her body was found Feb. 12 in her room at the Kearsley Home, Christ Church Hospital.
• The deaths occurred from January to July 1983.
• The case involved rape and murder in the nursing home setting.
• The New York Times described motives and methods as follows:
  • MOTOIVE: Sex.
  • MO: Rape-slayer of elderly women at rest home where he worked.

Investigation

An autopsy revealed that Kathryn Maxwell, 86 years old, had been suffocated.

• Her body was found Feb.
• Miss Maxwell's death occurred in a blizzard and had been attributed to a heart attack.
• Her body had been donated to science and was at the University of Pennsylvania medical school, awaiting use in an anatomy class.

A worker in the kitchen at the home was charged with raping and killing two residents, and police said it was likely he would be charged in connection with four more deaths.

Arrest

Anthony Joyner was to have a preliminary hearing Wednesday on charges that he killed Eugenia Border and Mildred Alston.

Trial

Anthony Joyner was convicted in May 1984.

• The Common Pleas Court jury deadlocked on whether he should be sentenced to death in the penalty phase.
• Judge Edwin Malmud imposed a sentence of life in prison because of the deadlock.
• The jury deliberated about four hours before announcing it was deadlocked on whether Mr. Joyner, 22 years old, should be sentenced to death.
• The panel deliberated for eight hours over two days before convicting him.

Convictions included:

• First-degree murder — five counts.
• Second-degree murder — one count.
• Rape — six counts each.
• Burglary — six counts each.

Sentencing

Anthony Joyner escaped death in the electric chair when a jury could not agree on the death penalty. Judge Edwin Malmud imposed a sentence of life in prison due to the jury deadlock.

Appeals

No appeals were stated in the provided material.

Outcome

• Anthony Joyner was sentenced to a mandatory term of life imprisonment when jurors deadlocked over capital punishment in the penalty phase.
• His disposition was stated as a life sentence in 1984.

Aftermath

• Nursing home killings brought a sentence of life in 1984.
• The autopsy findings and the related charging developments were described, including the suffocation of Kathryn Maxwell and the earlier attribution to a heart attack.
• Kathryn Maxwell's donated body was described as being at the University of Pennsylvania medical school awaiting use in an anatomy class.