Jenna Burleigh, a 22-year-old Temple student, was killed in the early hours of August 31 after spending the night at Pub Webb in North Philadelphia
A Pennsylvania man charged with killing a Temple University student is denying the allegation.
The attorney for 29-year-old Joshua Hupperterz said outside court Wednesday that Hupperterz tells him he ‘didn’t cause any harm’ to Jenna Burleigh.
Burleigh’s body was found earlier this month on property belonging to the defendant’s grandmother. The property is located about 140 miles north of the Philadelphia college’s campus.
The 22-year-old Burleigh vanished at the end of August. She was last seen on surveillance video leaving a bar near campus with Hupperterz, a former Temple student.
She had messaged multiple friends begging for help about two hours before she was last seen leaving the venue.
Sources told NBC that about 30 minutes before the bar closed, Burleigh called her friend and left a voicemail. She then sent him a text asking for help.
Burleigh was spotted on surveillance cameras leaving the bar with 29-year-old Joshua Hupperterz, left. He has denied killing her back at his apartment
Burleigh had messaged multiple friends begging for help about two hours before she was last seen leaving the Pub Webb bar, pictured, with the man charged over her murder
She also sent a direct message to another friend via Instagram asking for help. It is not clear if Burleigh feared for her life when she asked for assistance.
The messages were sent between 1.15am and 1.30am but her friends didn’t see them until the following morning.
She had just started at Temple as a junior transfer student.
Hupperterz was due in court for a preliminary hearing, but the case was continued until late November.
Police reported that Hupperterz had scratches on his face and a cut on his hand when questioned. He told detectives the injuries were caused by broken china
Police say Burleigh was killed at 4am inside Hupperterz’s apartment. A neighbor had reported hearing screams.
Police say they discovered blood spattered near the kitchen sink, rear door and on a trash can lid at the suspect’s apartment. They also allegedly found drugs and $20,000 in cash.
A coroner found Burleigh died of blunt trauma and strangulation.
Hupperterz then allegedly stuffed the student’s body into a storage bin and moved it to his mother’s house in a nearby neighborhood.
Police said he then used the ride-sharing service Lyft to move her body more than 100 miles away to his grandmother’s house. Her body was found in a shed at the property.
Police allege that Burleigh was murdered by Hupperterz at his home in North Philadelphia. From there, he allegedly took her body to his mother’s home in nearby Jenkintown. Authorities say he moved the body again, this time to Paupack Township, which is 140 miles north