HARRISBURG, PA – A Northampton County jury has found an Easton man guilty of first-degree murder for the brutal 2018 killing of 18-year-old Tyrell Holmes, who was stabbed and set on fire while still alive, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced.
The verdict was delivered Thursday after seven days of testimony detailing how Alkiohn Dunkins, now 26, and other members of the gang “Money Rules Everything” carried out the attack. Holmes’ body was discovered near a dumpster outside an apartment complex with four stab wounds to the neck and torso before being set on fire.
“This violent criminal organization has terrorized the people of the Lehigh Valley for far too long,” Sunday said. “This verdict takes one of their members off the street so he cannot victimize anyone else.”
Investigators determined that Holmes and Dunkins had lived together for a time, and Holmes had confided in others that he feared Dunkins would kill him. Phone records, surveillance footage, and other evidence ultimately led to the arrests of Dunkins and three co-defendants: Miles Harper, 26, of Allentown; Yzire Jenkins-Rowe, 27, of Collegeville; and Zahmire Welcome, 26, of Whitehall.
Harper has pleaded guilty to aggravated arson and awaits sentencing, while cases against Jenkins-Rowe and Welcome remain pending.
Dunkins is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7 and faces a mandatory life sentence without parole.