A Ghanaian man has been charged with aggravated assault by Berks County Detectives, who have also launched a death investigation following the discovery of his wife’s lifeless body at a residence in Richmond Township on Friday morning.
The incident unfolded when Fleetwood Police received a call regarding a domestic situation at a residence in the unit block of Middletown Road, just before 8:30 a.m last Friday.
Upon arrival, officers discovered an unresponsive 33-year-old woman inside the house.
Despite the immediate efforts of the responding officers and EMS to save her life, their attempts proved unsuccessful, and the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Berks Detectives immediately initiated a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death.
Meanwhile, the authorities took 46-year-old Harrison Boakye into custody and charged him with aggravated assault.
Resident Hartman, upon witnessing the incident, commented on the couple and this is what he said;
“A coroner’s van pulled in, first it was an ambulance, so we knew something was wrong,” said Hartman.
Hartman said the woman was Boakye’s partner, and the couple had been fighting in the past.
Authorities have not yet released the victim’s name but property records show the home is owned by Harrison and Winifred Boakye.
“Due to knowing domestic issues prior, we kind of thought maybe she’d had enough. We weren’t sure, but yeah so we were very shocked when we did hear that she was deceased,” said Hartman.
Hartman also said the couple have two kids, and she asked a detective if they were safe.
“He told us what he could. He said domestic, and then we said are the kids okay? And he said yes,” said Hartman.
Boakye is now facing charges of simple and aggravated assault, but his court docket specifically says “depending upon results of autopsy, murder charges may be filed.”
“The thing is you don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. They seemed like the perfect family. They just put new equipment out there for the kids,” said Hartman.
Berks County District Attorney John Adams said the autopsy will be performed on Monday. The cause of death and any new charges connected with that will likely be announced on Tuesday.