Crystal Hall returns to the house at 127 E. Pastorius St. where her mother Patricia Hall, was killed in September 2023. Read more Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

by Ellie Rushing Published Sept. 16, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET

Stephen Wilkins wanted his tenants out.

Crystal Hall, her younger siblings, and her mother had been renting Wilkins’ East Germantown home for about three years, when, in early 2023, they began to fall behind on rent. They paid Wilkins what they could of the $950-a-month cost, Hall said, but the shortfall was adding up.

Meanwhile, she said, the two-bedroom house was falling apart. The kitchen sink and bathroom tub wouldn’t drain. The railings on the stairs were broken. The living room ceiling was cracked and peeling, she said.

As spring turned to summer, s

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