A week ago I wrote about several murders in cities around the country. Each of the victims were progressives interested in improving their communities and each of them were senselessly murdered by violent people on the street. At least that’s how it appeared. Since then we’ve learned that one of the murders was not a random act of violence.

The suspect in the murder of 39-year-old Josh Kruger in Philadelphia has been identified as 19-year-old Robert Davis. Police initially said Davis and Kruger were acquaintances. Lt. Hamilton Marshmond of the Philadelphia Homicide Unit said of Kruger’s relationship to Davis, “He was just trying to help him get through life.”

Today the case took a twist when Davis’s family claimed that he and Kruger had a long-term relationship involving sex and drugs. That relationship allegedly began when Davis was just 15-years-old.

Damica Davis and her older son Jaylin Reason said in an interview that Davis faced mental health issues from a young age. He struggled to control his anger in school, his mother said, partially because of the absence of his biological father in his life, and often got into fights. When he was around 15, she said, his troubles intensified after he started sneaking out in the middle of the night, and coming home high on drugs.

They said Davis told them he was seeing an “older white woman” he met online who “worked for the government.”

They frequently saw the name “Josh” pop up in messages on his phone, they said, and when they asked who Josh was, Davis told them it was the woman’s brother, who was gay.

Davis is still on the run but his mother did talk to him on the phone and she claims he finally told her the truth. The “older white woman” he was seeing was Josh Kruger. In that conversation, Davis claimed that Kruger had tried to blackmail him.

“He was scared,” [his mother] said. “He said ‘… He wanted me to do some stuff I didn’t want to do and if I didn’t do it, he said he was going to blackmail me.’”

Is all of this just a story concocted to help explain a murder? Police have also found evidence that supports at least some parts of the story Davis’ family is telling.

The family’s contentions come as detectives separately discovered and are investigating what multiple law enforcement sources have called explicit photos and messages in Kruger’s phone. The sources, who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, did not say if the images or messages were connected to Davis, but said they were “disturbing” and have been turned over to the department’s Special Victims Unit for further analysis.

Obviously there’s no excuse for murder but if it’s true that Josh Kruger, at age 35, started “dating” 15-year-old Robert Davis that’s also a crime. Under Pennsylvania law the age of consent is 16 years old. Those between the ages of 13 and 15 can consent to sex but only with someone who is no more than 4 years older than they are. So a 15-year-old cannot legally consent to sex with a 35-year old under any circumstances. That would be considered felony sexual assault.

Also, if Davis was getting into drugs during this relationship that undermines Kruger’s own story which is that he was a homeless drug addict who turned his life around, got sober and got a job working for the city and the mayor. To be blunt, if Kruger was offering an underage Davis drugs in exchange for sex, essentially turning him into a meth addict so he could sleep with him…well, a jury might take all of that into account.

Finally. it’s also possible that Davis is guilty and is smearing Kruger who can’t defend himself from these allegations. The only way to sort this out is for a jury to look at all the evidence. But before that can happen, Davis needs to turn himself in to police. Staying on the run does not suggest innocence.