Ernest Pressley, Contract Killer, Pennsylvania 2024

A Philadelphia man has admitted to being a contract killer, involved in six murders and an attempted murder in the city between 2016 and 2018.

Ernest Pressley, 42, pleaded guilty before United States District Court Judge Eduardo C. Robreno to one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and four counts of use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.

According to the guilty plea, Pressley was involved in the murder of four victims in Philadelphia between 2017 and 2018, all in exchange for money. The defendant also admitted to his role in the killing of two other victims in 2016 and 2017, and the attempted murder of a woman in 2018.

The investigation into Pressley’s crimes began in late 2018, when the Philadelphia Police Department joined with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate Pressley in connection with the murder of a victim known as S.S. who was shot to death in the parking lot of a Philadelphia apartment complex on September 1, 2018.

Pressley was arrested on September 7, 2018, after being captured on video surveillance footage near the scene and in footage retrieved from a bar in Philadelphia the evening before, when he was with S.S. and several other men.

The ensuing investigation revealed that Pressley was responsible for other murders in Philadelphia, including the killings of two tow truck drivers who worked for the business A. Bob’s Towing on January 12 and 13, 2017. The defendant agreed to kill a tow truck driver known as K.F. in exchange for money, in order to prevent K.F. from testifying as a witness at an assault trial in Philadelphia.

Pressley was convicted by way of his guilty plea and carries a mandatory life sentence in prison. The defendant also admitted to shooting a victim known as C.Y. to death on July 19, 2016, as C.Y. sat on the porch of a residence near 1500 West Olney Avenue in Philadelphia. The defendant also admitted to his role in providing the location of a man he knew was wanted dead by a Philadelphia drug trafficker, which later resulted in the death of a victim known as Y.H., who was killed as the result of mistaken identity near the intersection of 56th Street and Ithan Street on July 24, 2018.