PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Taray Herring was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder for killing and dismembering a 70-year-old Northeast Philadelphia man in 2021.
Peter Gerold, a “healer” who would “do anything for anyone,” hired Herring, 50, a few years ago to do odd jobs at his house on Sanibel Street. But, instead of working, Herring devised a plan to kill and rob Gerold of all his possessions, including his exotic birds and reptiles .
During the trial, police, detectives and crime scene officers testified to the gruesome details surrounding Gerold’s death.
In February 2021, Herring’s ex-girlfriend Jeanette Pace told jurors he called her and told her there were birds and reptiles he wanted to sell on the dark web, saying he would give her a portion of the money.
Pace, who was addicted to heroin at the time, told jurors she needed to pay bills and was down on her luck, so she made her way from South Jersey to Philadelphia to help Herring.
When the two arrived at Gerold's house, she said Herring handed her a taser to use on Gerold, which she did, but it failed. That’s when she says Herring tackled Gerold to the ground as he exclaimed “Why are you doing this to me? I was good to you!”
Herring, she said, tied up Gerold and threatened his dog to get pins and passwords to his credit cards. Pace told the jury he then ordered her to try the cards at Wawa, which she did. When she got back, she saw Gerold dead, with ligature marks around his neck and his nose nearly cut off.
Throughout the next several days, she said Herring tried to dispose of the body, first trying to set it on fire, but eventually storing it in the shed.
Pace said she got her boyfriend at the time, Rafique McNichols, to help. He came to the house days later and got into Gerold’s safe, taking money and other items.
At some point, McNichols and Pace left the house in Gerold’s car and Herring was left to clean up.
A neighbor, who hadn’t seen Gerold in days, noticed a man rolling something large in a black trash bag down the driveway and into a U-Haul truck and called 911.
That prompted investigators to pull over the truck, discovering Gerold’s mangled torso inside with a bag of bloody saws and scissors.
Pace was eventually arrested and pleaded guilty months later to third-degree murder and related charges, but has not yet been sentenced.
McNichols has pleaded guilty to related charges. Throughout the trial, the defense argued he was the real killer.
Gerold’s head, arms and feet were never found, but Herring told detectives in a video he put those remains in dumpsters.
On Thursday, a letter was read from Gerold’s family about the dedicated, loving family man he was before Herring was sentenced to automatic life in prison plus 33 years for the other offenses.
After the jury announced the verdict, Herring lashed out and cursed at the judge several times.
“That’s his true colors and you can imagine what Peter Gerold saw at the end of his life. That was that man, and then what he did to him afterwards,” said Joanne Pescatore, who prosecuted the case. "...The depravity in the case, just his evilness really showed out in what he did."
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