An Allentown man will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing a man three years ago in the city.
Evander Thompson, 32, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison, as well as three to seven years in prison, for the Sept. 23, 2023 killing of Orlando Ibanez, Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan said in a news release. He was convicted in July of first-degree murder and carrying a firearm without a license.
Thompson fatally shot Ibanez, 58, at Ibanez’s apartment in the 500 block of West Allen Street early that morning, the DA’s office said. Ibanez was found dead at the entrance of his apartment.
Surveillance footage showed Thompson entering the apartment just before the shooting, and running away several minutes later, according to authorities. He texted his girlfriend “he dead” minutes after the shooting, court documents state.
Investigators found a gun on his girlfriend’s son, and determined it matched the one used in the shooting. Additionally, Thompson recorded a video of himself holding the gun, police said.
Holihan said Thompson is also a suspect in an uncharged homicide that happened in 2016 in Ferguson, Missouri. Maleaha Journ’e Talton’s body was found beaten, shot in the head and wrapped in a carpet along a wooded trail, the release states.
Thompson was dating Talton, 16, at the time, and has been named a person of interest, police said. Talton’s family attended Thompson’s sentencing Wednesday. Anyone with information on that homicide is asked to contact police at 314-522-3100.