A man in Philadelphia has pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Oct. 13, to murdering his pregnant girlfriend and unintentionally causing their unborn child to die, in a tragic case of murder and emotional feelings run amok.
Jaleel Lamar Loper, a 30-year-old from Pennsylvania, was arrested in 2018 after killing his girlfriend Anna Angok, a 29-year-old woman, when she attempted to break up with him after he accused her of aborting their child, NBC Philadelphia reported.
Loper has been slapped with a sentence of 39 to 78 years in prison. He was convicted of third-degree murder, three-degree murder of an unborn, as well as stalking. Loper reportedly strangled Angok with a cellphone charging chord before sitting her and their two-year-old daughter, who is still alive, on the couch.
“This is a terrible tragedy,” Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said about the case. “The defendant will be behind bars until he’s at least 70 years old. He is paying a costly price for murdering Ms. Anna Angok and her unborn child."
“ I only hope that Mr. Loper’s plea and acceptance of responsibility, will allow Ms. Angok’s family the ability to grieve and move forward without being further intertwined with the criminal justice process,” Weintraub continued.
Prosecutors attempted to pursue the death penalty against Loper in 2019 for first-degree murder, but the plea deal allows Loper to serve a life sentence instead, according to Law&Order.
Angok is a refugee from the Sudan who moved to the United States when she was 12. Her friends remember her fondly as they mourn her death under Loper’s hands. She is survived by one daughter, also with Loper.
“Anna’s death created so much sorrow – a sorrow that will be carried for a lifetime – for Anna’s daughter, for Anna’s family, for Anna’s friends and community,” a family friend told the press.
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