A man accused of killing six people while working as a contract killer in Philadelphia has been sentenced to prison, Pennsylvania officials said.
The man, 43-year-old Ernest Pressley, received five consecutive life sentences on May 16 after pleading guilty to some of the killings in 2022, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
“Ernest Pressley is a hardened and chronic offender, a true menace to society,” Jacqueline Maguire, an official with the FBI’s Philadelphia Division, stated in the release. “For all the lives he took and families he affected, this contract killer has duly earned each of his life sentences.”
An attorney for Pressley could not immediately be reached for comment by McClatchy News.
Police first began investigating Pressley in 2018 after video surveillance placed him near the scene of a homicide at a Philadelphia apartment complex parking lot, officials said. Security footage from a city bar also revealed he had been with the victim the night before the killing.
As a result of the investigation, which was assisted by the FBI, police arrested Pressley in connection to the homicide.
But further evidence indicated Pressley was not responsible for just one, but numerous killings that took place throughout the city over a period of several years, including three that happened in a span of three days, officials said. Pressley, a “cold-blooded killer,” was employed as a hitman by a drug trafficker during this time, according to the news release.
Among the people he reportedly killed were two tow truck drivers in January 2017, officials said. Both worked for A. Bob’s Towing, a towing service in Philadelphia.
Pressley was purportedly paid to kill one of the drivers, identified as K.F., in order to stop him from testifying at an assault trial, officials said. He shot K.F. as he was getting into his truck on Jan. 13, 2017, killing him and injuring his coworker.
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“He was wonderful, nice young man,” Lisa Harrison, a manager at A. Bob’s Towing, told McClatchy News. “His mother loved him to death. He was very good to his mom.”
The other driver, identified as E.R., was chosen at random in order to confuse police, officials said.
Pressley instigated a fight with him at a local business on Jan. 12, 2017 before killing him, Harrison said.
Further investigation revealed Pressley had killed another victim working in a garage on Jan. 11, 2017.
In September 2022, he pleaded guilty to killing four people at the behest of a drug trafficker. He also confessed to shooting a fifth person to death in 2016 and admitted to attempting to kill a sixth person, among other crimes, officials said.
“His heinous crimes demonstrate the utmost disregard for human life,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw stated in the release. “This sentence sends a strong message that we will relentlessly pursue justice and protect our communities from those who commit acts of violence.”
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