Family members of Robert Davis, 20, who has been arrested in the slaying of LGBTQ+ and homelessness community advocate and journalist, Josh Kruger, claim evidence on the slain man's phone could help explain why the killing occurred.
On Wednesday, as she stood in front of Kruger's home along the 2300 block of Watkins Street in the city's Point Breeze neighborhood, Damica Davis, the suspect's mother, called for the public release of information that, she believes, is on Kruger's phone.
Davis claims this information would show that her son acted in self-defense.
"I just really wish that there was something else in place where it's so he didn't have to serve 15 to 30 years for protecting himself," she said.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
The 39-year-old Kruger -- who worked for a number of Philadelphia media outlets in his career and spent several years working for the city -- was shot several times in the chest and abdomen just before 1:30 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023.
Davis, who police have said had a relationship with Kruger, was arrested and charged with murder and other crimes shortly after the incident.
He is expected to plead guilty in court next week.
Yet, Davis' mother -- joined by his older brother, Quran along with a family friend -- spoke out on Wednesday, calling for officials to release messages, photos and videos that, they claim, exist on Kruger's phone.
As he was formerly employed by the city, Damica Davis called Kruger a public figure, and claimed he had began an inappropriate relationship with her son when he was just 15-years-old.
"I don't want the evidence that they found in this man's phone just to get swept under the rug," she said.
Davis lived with his family just down the street from Kruger and, his mother said, the two met on a dating app for LGBTQ men in a relationship that began five years before the murder.
She also claimed the two regularly used drugs together.
"You could see that like, we can tell that he was clearly off or something because the way his eyes was," said Jamir Miles, a friend of the Davis family.
In the past, Kruger had often written about his personal struggles with homelessness and drug addiction.
According to Davis' family, on the day Kruger was killed, he was allegedly threatening to release images -- that the suspect killer's family argue Kruger had of Davis -- if the younger man didn't do something sexual for him.
Davis' mother said her son refused and, in response, Davis told her he "lost it."
"He understands that he could have went about it a different way," said Davis' mother. "And he, like he said, he blacked out for those couple of minutes that he did this and he regrets it."
NBC10 has reached out to prosecutors and the attorneys that represent Davis for comment on this story.
Both had no comment as the case in open and ongoing.
Instead of a prison sentence, Davis' mother argues her son needs mental health and drug treatment.
Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.
