Pennsylvania- She never went home. And her last photos were taken in connection with an autopsy performed by the Montgomery County coroner’s office.
The body of the tall, blonde 23-year-old Canadian college student, who posed for adult entertainment photos and films under the name of Taylor Sumers to earn money for school, was discovered March 23 in Whitemarsh by a passerby walking along River Road near Harts Lane.
Wrapped in a blue backdrop of the kind commonly used by a photographer, the body appeared to have rolled down a steep embankment after being dumped over a guardrail, according to authorities. A ball gag and other bondage-type materials were found in the area.
The coroner’s office ruled King’s death a homicide, saying she died from multiple stab wounds to the neck and upper body.
Authorities have arrested two people in connection with King’s murder. The two are photographer Anthony J. Frederick, 47, of the 1100 block of Bayless Place, Lower Providence, and the 30-year-old Jennifer Mitkus, who has no permanent address but who worked as Frederick’s assistant during the King photo session.
Frederick is charged with first-and third-degree murder and related offenses. He has been held in the county prison without bail since his arrest in March.
Mitkus, who was living in motels in the Oaks and Pottstown areas as well as out of her car at the time of the King photo shoot, is charged with unsworn falsifications to authorities and hindering apprehension. Initially held at the county prison following her March arrest, Mitkus was released in September on nominal bail.
The pair is scheduled to go on trial on Feb. 28, just one day short of a year from the day that King reportedly posed for Frederick.
King had traveled from her home in Ontario to work with Frederick on a photo shoot on Feb. 29 at his rented apartment studio at 105 W. Third St., Conshohocken. She was reported missing by her roommate in Canada on March 4. ~Mitkus told authorities she last saw King by her car outside the studio after the photo shoot had been completed. She and Frederick left the area before King, Mitkus reportedly told authorities.
County law enforcement officials contend that King never left the studio alive.
Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. has speculated that the motive for the stabbing was that either Frederick, who had photographed King with a ball gag in her mouth, did not want to pay her for the photo shoot or that the death was the result of making a snuff video that got out of hand.
The case has attracted the county’s top lawyers.
Castor, assisted by Assistant District Attorney Barbara Ashcroft, will prosecute the case. Norristown lawyer Richard D. Winters, one of the county’s top defense lawyers, represents Frederick while county Chief Public Defender Carolyn T. Carluccio represents Mitkus.
Judge William T. Nicholas will preside at the trial.