Police: Homeless man strangled girlfriend in jealous rage
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Authorities on Wednesday identified a woman strangled by a homeless man in Pittsburgh’s Homewood section last week.
Brittany Alker, 30, was found dead in the closet of a Forest Way home early March 12 after the man accused of killing her called police.
James Wilson, 34, is charged with a single count of homicide in the case.
According to the criminal complaint, Wilson first called 911 just before 4 a.m. March 12. Police said Wilson appeared anxious, and he asked officers to take him to Shadyside Hospital. They did.
About 90 minutes later, the same officers responded to the hospital for a welfare check for a man who was sitting outside the hospital, according to the complaint. The officers found Wilson at a bus stop near the hospital, and as they approached, he began to cry. He told police he’d just killed someone.
Wilson directed police to an abandoned house on Forest Way, where they found Alker stuffed into a closet, police said.
Wilson said he and Alker had been dating “for years,” and they went to the abandoned house earlier that night to have sex, according to the complaint. After, Wilson told police, he “began to think and dwell” on the fact he’d been told Alker was unfaithful to him.
According to the complaint, Wilson asked Alker about the infidelity, and she confirmed it was true. Wilson told police he went into a “rage,” and he ordered Alker to strip off her clothes and lie face down on the floor.
Wilson told investigators he wrapped his belt around her neck and pulled until she stopped moving, according to the complaint. He stomped on her and gouged her eyes and shoved her body into the closet, he said.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Alker’s death a homicide by strangling. Wilson remains in the Allegheny County Jail, where he is being held without bail.