Man convicted for the twisted murder & cover up of his alleged gay lover

A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania man charged with the brutal murder of his alleged same-sex lover has been convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

On September 30, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office announced that 23-year-old Kylen Pratt had been convicted of first-degree murder for killing 20-year-old Naasire Johnson in 2022.

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Johnson took an Uber from his family’s home to Pratt’s in the early morning hours of February 17, 2022, where Pratt shot him in the neck soon after he arrived, the district attorney’s office’s press release stated. Pratt then transported Johnson’s body to a remote trail in Philadelphia’s Fairmont Park, where he attempted to burn the body.

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Johnson’s remains were found the following afternoon and later identified using DNA analysis.

An anonymous tip led investigators to focus on Pratt. After accessing the suspect’s cell phone data, police were able to place Pratt with Johnson at the time of the murder as well as in the park where his body was found. A search of Pratt’s home also revealed carpet padding and hardwood flooring drenched in Johnson’s blood, a sizable portion of carpeting that had been heavily bleached, and a semiautomatic gun that police were able to link to the murder.

Pratt’s cell phone data also revealed Google searches for coverage of the murder as well as searches for “traits of a psychopath,” “having sex with dead bodies,” and “killing in cold blood.”

Pratt was arrested in June of 2022. In addition to first-degree murder, a jury convicted him of abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and possession of an instrument of crime on September 27, 2024. He was sentenced to live in prison without the possibility of parole along with a consecutive sentence of four-and-a-half to nine years.

Prosecutors had argued that Pratt murdered Johnson to conceal their relationship.

“Make no mistake: The murder of Naasire Johnson was a hate crime,” Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope said in a statement. “Kylen Pratt did not want anyone to know of his romantic involvement with the victim.”

In a statement, Minister Sultan Hakeem Pitts of Interfaith Community noted that crimes like Pratt’s affect entire communities.

“LGBTQIA people, especially Black and Brown people, are disproportionately impacted by these hate crimes, causing our community profound and lasting mental health challenges,” Pitts said. “And while this moment does bring some small form of closure, no sentence can fully heal the pain caused by Naasire’s tragic death. He was and is a full person and more than just a name, with love, with light, with intelligence, and with potential. His death has left an indelible mark upon our hearts.”

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