Steven Williams admitted taking part in seven murders in Philadelphia in 2018 and 2019, all of them committed for money. He pleaded guilty to four of the killings in December 2024 and later admitted involvement in three more, and on April 16, 2025 a Court of Common Pleas judge sentenced him to 40 to 80 years in state prison.
The victims had no obvious links to one another. Williams was in his mid-twenties when the killings began. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said in 2020 that Williams "collected thousands of dollars as a contract killer", and Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry said that he "callously took lives, for dollars, as a paid killer." Who paid him, and who ordered the killings, has never been reported.
The first four cases to reach court cover a span of just under eight months, between September 2018 and May 2019. The Attorney General's Office gave the victims as William Crawford, 35; Jermaine Simmons, 39; Richard Isaac, 31; and Leslie Carroll, 39.
William Crawford died on September 8, 2018, in the Rhawnhurst section of Northeast Philadelphia. Jermaine Simmons died on February 10, 2019, in West Oak Lane. Richard Isaac died on March 25, 2019, in East Mount Airy. Leslie Carroll died on May 4, 2019, in the Francisville district of the city.
Philadelphia homicide detectives investigated each case as a separate event. Police said at the time that they were still working to establish how the victims were connected. Prosecutors later said the men had no evident link to one another and that Williams killed men he did not know, for payment.
By June 2020 Williams, then 25, was already held in a Pennsylvania state prison on unrelated Montgomery County charges. Detectives brought him back to Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 10, 2020, and charged him in the four killings. District Attorney Krasner announced the charges two days later.
The charges were four counts of murder, conspiracy, hindering apprehension, possessing an instrument of crime, recklessly endangering another person, tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice and related offenses. Krasner said Williams's "streak of wanton, violent crimes against our communities over the past two-plus years ends today." Williams was held without bail, and the Defender Association of Philadelphia represented him. A preliminary hearing was set for July 1, 2020.
Williams at first denied any knowledge of the killings. Police and prosecutors said he was linked to the cases by evidence. No one else has been reported as charged in these four cases.
The cases did not stay with the District Attorney. The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office took over the prosecution through its task force, working with the Philadelphia Police Department Homicide Unit. The Attorney General's Office described the cases as part of a larger investigation into murders for hire.
On Tuesday, December 17, 2024, Williams, then 30, stood before Common Pleas Judge Rose Marie DeFino-Nastasi and pleaded guilty to three counts of third-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, together with related offenses. The pleas covered the killings of Crawford, Simmons, Isaac and Carroll.
At the plea, the Attorney General said her office would seek a sentence that protected the community, and called him a danger to society. Sentencing was set for March 5, 2025.
Williams later admitted involvement in three further killings, of LeVern Jackson, Kenneth Robinson and Ramon Rosa. The dates and places of those deaths have not been reported.
On Wednesday, April 16, 2025, Judge DeFino-Nastasi sentenced Williams to 40 to 80 years in prison for seven murders. She also ordered restitution to the Victims Compensation Board and to individuals.
The individual counts are not matched to individual victims, and the dates of the three later killings and the identities of those who paid Williams have not been reported. No trial took place, so no jury or judge tested the evidence; the findings rest on his pleas.
September 8, 2018: William Crawford dies in Rhawnhurst.
February 10, 2019: Jermaine Simmons dies in West Oak Lane.
March 25, 2019: Richard Isaac dies in East Mount Airy.
May 4, 2019: Leslie Carroll dies in Philadelphia.
June 10, 2020: Williams is brought to Philadelphia and charged with four killings.
June 12, 2020: the District Attorney announces the charges.
December 17, 2024: Williams pleads guilty to three counts of third-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
By April 2025: Williams admits involvement in three further killings.
April 16, 2025: sentenced to 40 to 80 years.