Montco 'Murder For Hire' Homicide Trial Begins

NORRISTOWN, PA — Trial began in Montgomery County on Monday for two men accused in the death of Ebony Sequita Pack, a young mother from Bucks County who was gunned down during a drive-by shooting in Lansdale Borough in late 2020.

The homicide case, which prosecutors have referred to as a 'murder for hire' crime, is playing out in front of a jury at Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in Norristown.

The defendants are Chong Ling Dan, 50, and Ricky G. Vance, 54, both of Philadelphia.

Pack, of Feasterville, Pa., was found shot dead in her vehicle on Nov. 28, 2020, on East Hancock Street in Lansdale a little before 10 at night.

Dan and Vance both face homicide-related charges in connection with the crime.

Pack, who was just 30 years old at the time of her death, was a young mother who worked in the nursing field.

Prosecutors began their opening statements as trial commenced on Monday, according to a report in the Mercury newspaper.

In the story, Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Lindsey Mills was quoted as telling the jurors that the case was not a random act of violence but rather a "well-planned, well-orchestrated murder for hire."

Patch previously reported that Pack had dated Dan's former girlfriend, and that the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office believes the killing was domestic in nature, since the girlfriend had broken up with Dan in July 2020, right around the time the woman started dating pack.

The change in relationship status, the DA's Office has said, seemed to kick off the timeline of events that culminated with Pack's fatal shooting.

The former girlfriend had told authorities that between July and November 2020, Dan was harassing and being abusive toward her, eventually leading the woman to obtain a protection from abuse order against Dan.

The woman had claimed that Dan also made disparaging remarks about Pack and at one point even threatened to "fix her," according to the DA's Office.

Authorities ultimately determined that Pack's vehicle had been followed from the Bensalem entrance to the Pennsylvania Turnpike and eventually to the area where she was killed in Lansdale.

Prosecutors have stated that Vance is believed to have been the driver who was following Pack, and that the killing was captured on surveillance video.

Investigators analyzed cellphone records, which reportedly showed that Dan and Vance had been in communication with each other, and also with a third man, Terrence Marche, believed by prosecutors to have been the trigger man.

Marche, of King of Prussia, subsequently fled to Central America, and authorities say they are continuing to look for him.

Prosecutors claim that Dan hired Vance and Marche to kill Pack, but defense attorneys reportedly told jurors on Monday that the prosecution's circumstantial case is full of holes, and somebody is likely lying due to the various conflicting accounts given by witnesses, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

One defense argument seems to be that Vance claims he wasn't even driving the offending vehicle on the night of Pack killing, and that Vance claims he had lent the vehicle to Marche, who was identified as a longtime friend of Vance's, according to the Inquirer story.

Court records show that the trial is expected to last about five days. It is being overseen by Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge William Carpenter.

Records show that Dan is being charged with first-degree murder, criminal solicitation to commit first-degree murder, conspiracy-murder of the first-degree, as well as third-degree murder and related charges.

Vance is being charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit third-degree murder, and firearms charges.