A Cheltenham Man Received Life Imprisonment For Killing Wife And Mother-In-Law

CHELTENHAM, PA — A local man is heading to prison for the rest of his life after being convicted at Montgomery County Common Pleas Court of killing his wife and her mother two years ago.

Frederick Lee Clea, 59, of the Wyncote section of Cheltenham Township was convicted during a bench trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Gary S. Silow on two counts of first-degree murder for the July 2020 killings of his wife, Latiya, 41, and his mother-in-law, Makenda Saunders, 75, in their Green Valley Road home, according to media reports and court records.

The Pottstown Mercury newspaper reported that Silow acted as the sole fact-finder in the case after Clea had previously waived his right to a jury trial on the charges against him.

The paper also reported that Silow determined Clea acted with specific intent to kill, thereby rejecting Clea's argument that he committed voluntary manslaughter as opposed to first-degree murder.

Court records in the case show that the three-day bench trial began on Monday and ended with the imposition of sentence on Wednesday.

Records show that Silow sentenced Clea to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Clea was also found guilty of a misdemeanor count of possessing an instrument of crime.

The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office had announced Clea's arrest back on July 26, 2020.

According to county prosecutors, Clea, then 57 years old, shot and killed the two women on July 25 around 12:09 p.m.

A joint investigation between the DA's Office and Cheltenham Township police determined that Clea and his wife were involved in a verbal argument at the time.

The Pottstown Mercury report said that the killings, which reportedly occurred in front of Clea's two young children, stemmed from an argument over a magazine to Clea's handgun.

"The combination of a recently purchased gun and anger toward his wife and mother-in-law proved deadly," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said in a statement back in July 2020. "Tragically, two young children are now left without parents and a grandparent in their lives, and the defendant faces spending the rest of his life in prison."

Autopsies conducted by the Montgomery County Coroner's Office determined that Latiya Clea died from a total of five gunshot wounds to her body and that Saunders died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Clea's defense attorney reportedly argued that the crimes were committed in the heat of passion, and that the killings were not premeditated; the judge ultimately rejected that argument, according to the Pottstown Mercury.