Jason Smith, an exterminator by profession, admitted to strangling a pediatrician at her home in downtown Philadelphia after the two got into a verbal argument, CBS Philly reports.
Jason T. Smith, 36, an exterminator of Levittown, Pennsylvania, made a full confession today and was charged with the murder of Dr Melissa Ketunuti, as well as arson, abuse of a corpse and causing/risking a catastrophe.
Smith told investigators he committed the crime because he felt like Ketunuti was disrespecting him and belittling him when he performed work on her home.
"She needed an exterminator, she called a certain service, he was subcontracted out," Capt. James Clark said at a news conference, according to the Associated Press. "They got into some type of argument. It went terribly wrong."
Smith "struck her while she was in the basement, knocked her down, strangled her to death and ultimately set her body on fire" in an apparent attempt to hide evidence, Clark said.
There were no signs of sexual assault and nothing was stolen from the home of the victim, whose body was bound with rope at her wrists and ankles and wrapped around her neck, police said.
Detectives watched hours of surveillance video from nearby businesses, one of which shows Smith entering Ketunuti's home with a work bag and dressed in a coat and gloves, then leaving without a coat less than an hour later.
In another video, the suspect is seen getting into his truck after the slaying and driving past her home several times, Clark said.
