Two Reading men have been sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping and execution-style killing of a 19-year-old city man in 2023.
Vashon Winfield, 22, and Hector Torres, 23, were each sentenced last week by Berks County Judge Thomas G. Parisi to life without parole followed by 20 to 40 years in prison.
Winfield and Torres were convicted following four days of testimony in March of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, kidnapping and related charges in the killing of Javien Perch.
A third suspect, Ansari Jalal, remains at large.
The three are accused of approaching Perch as he was walking on North 10th Street to a friend’s house and forcing him into a car.
District Attorney John T. Adams said Monday that prosecutors are asking the public to come forward with any tips that would lead to Jalal’s apprehension, adding that Crime Alert Berks is offering up to $10,000 for such information.
Tips can be submitted by calling Crime Alert Berks’ tip line at 1-877-373-9913 or by texting 847411 and starting the message with the word ALETBERKS followed by the tip.
“We would like to close this chapter for this family by apprehending this individual and bringing him to justice, ” Adams said.
According to investigators:
After not hearing from Perch for two days, his family reported his disappearance to Reading police on March 30, 2023.
About a week later Perch’s bullet-riddled body was found on Oak Lane, just beyond the city line on Mount Penn, in Alsace Township.
The investigation was aided by the family providing crucial information on Perch’s final movements. Family members tracked his movement via the cellphone application Life360, which relies on GPS and cellular data.
The city’s license-plate readers and pole-mounted cameras led investigators to identify the car the suspects used to abduct Perch, which eventually led them to a witness to the kidnapping and murder.
The witness said Torres drove the car. Torres and Winfield eventually got possession of Perch’s two cellphones and asked if he had any other valuables.
They demanded the passwords for his phones and used the passwords he provided to log out of the accounts of both phones.
While driving north on Oak Lane, Jalal told Torres to stop the car. The three suspects got out with Perch and walked up the slope.
The witness heard numerous gunshots from the mountainside.
An autopsy determined Perch had been shot 10 times.
Torres, Winfield and Jalal returned to the car, and Torres drove east.
Winfield later destroyed one of Perch’s phones.