Man Accused Of Killing, Burying Boyfriend At Awbury Arboretum Held For Trial

POTTSTOWN, PA — The Philadelphia man accused of killing his former boyfriend in Montgomery County back in 2019 and burying the victim's body at the Awbury Arboretum in the city's East Germantown section was held over for trial following a preliminary hearing before a local judge Thursday.

Keshaun Laquay Sheffield, 20, was ordered to stand trial on first-degree murder and related charges after a proceeding before Magisterial District Court Judge Scott T. Paladino, court records in the case show.

Prosecutors say Sheffield stabbed 22-year-old Rashid Young to death in Young's Pottstown apartment in western Montgomery County back in late August 2019, placing the victim's body in a borough recycling container, and ultimately driving the deceased man to Northwest Philadelphia where he buried the victim at the Awbury Arboretum.

The case got more bizarre, as investigators say they soon learned that Sheffield had been accessing a $2 million trust fund that Young had obtained through a court settlement and began siphoning money from the fund — possibly to the tune of about $8,000 — even going as far as to take on Young's persona in text messages and other communications to Young's family, who were unaware that Young had been killed, according to prosecutors.

Sheffield allegedly kept up the ruse in order to keep the lie going that Young was alive, when he was actually deceased.

"Since August 2019, a family has been searching for information about their missing son," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said early last month when his office announced murder charges against Sheffield.

Court records in the case show that Sheffield was held for court on both first-and-third-degree felony homicide charges following the preliminary hearing before Palladino Thursday afternoon.

During a preliminary hearing in Pennsylvania, a lower court judge determines whether there is enough evidence for criminal charges to stick in Common Pleas Court, which is the trial level court in the commonwealth.

A report from Thursday in the Mercury newspaper in Pottstown states that one of Sheffield's friends testified at the preliminary hearing that Sheffield solicited the friend's help in removing the Pottstown recycling container that had Young's remains and moving it from the victim's apartment, although the friend had been unaware of what was inside the container.

The friend reportedly said it smelled like "road kill" in the apartment and around the area of the recycling bin, but that Sheffield, when asked, said the bin merely contained trash and cleaning supplies.

The county DA's Office previously stated that tips from a confidential informant led investigators to learn that Sheffield and Young had been involved in a romantic relationship for about two years up until the time of Young's disappearance.

Detectives have stated that the recycling container containing Young's body was initially transported to Sheffield's mother's house in Philadelphia, and the remains were later taken to Awbury Arboretum where Sheffield and a friend dug a hole and placed the body, according to the DA's Office.

The decomposing remains were found the following month, in September 2019, by a landscaper at the arboretum, who subsequently contacted the Philadelphia Police Department, thus kicking off the investigation.

The case has various twists, and the Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this month put out an in-depth report referencing some of the backstory.

The story partially references Nadeem Bezar, a lawyer who had previously worked with Young in helping to set up his trust account from the seven-figure settlement that arose out of a civil suit against a foster-care agency that had placed Young in an abusive home years earlier when Young's family was going through homelessness.

That case ended with Young receiving a trust fund that was reportedly worth around $2 million, according to the Inquirer story, the same fund that Sheffield was allegedly illegally accessing in order to steal money for himself.

Young is portrayed in the story as an aspiring actor or model who most recently lived in Pottstown Borough and whose sudden disappearance in the summer of 2019 puzzled those who knew him best.

Sheffield is next expected to appear in court on Aug. 31 for a formal arraignment.

He is currently in custody at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility since first-degree murder defendants in Pennsylvania are not given bail.

Court records show that Sheffield is being represented by Philadelphia-based defense attorney Marni Jo Snyder.