Ex-Con Accused Of Killing College Student

PHILADELPHIA – A match made online turned tragic in Philadelphia, and now it is the focus of a murder investigation.

Sources told Fox 29 that Philadelphia police investigators found blood inside the second-floor apartment of Stephen Benford. Hours later and a state away, they recovered the body of a woman police believe he met on a dating site.

Fox 29’s Claudia Gomez has been working on this story for two days. Here is the latest information:

Stephen Benford is behind bars and is expected to be charged with the murder of Gina Schickling, a 22-year-old college student who just came home for the summer.

Schickling disappeared last Wednesday, so her family posted missing-person fliers around the city, including across the street from the Kensington apartment where police say she was murdered. Stephen Benford had just moved there last week.

Investigators believe the couple met on a free online dating website called okcupid.com.

Schickling was studying architecture in San Diego. She met up with Benford when she returned to Philly last week. What she probably did not realize is that Benford is an ex-con on parole. He spent two years in prison for trying to run down a police officer.

A police source told Fox 29 that Benford admitted he stabbed Shickling several times inside his apartment after, he says, they got into an argument. Apparently he also confessed that he went to a local Home Depot, got a garbage can, disposed of her body, drove it to New Jersey and dumped it behind a home that his parents used to live in outside of Newark.

To continue reading please visit Fox 29