Authorities say a suspected serial killer accused in the deaths of several people in Delaware and Pennsylvania has been indicted on 41 felony charges. Delaware prosecutors allege in an indictment issued Tuesday that 39-year-old Keith Gibson killed two people and injured four others in Delaware during a weekslong crime spree earlier this year.
A man already charged in the murder of a Philadelphia Dunkin’ employee and his own mother earlier this year, as well as two killings in Delaware, will face another two murder counts when he is extradited to Philadelphia.
Keith Gibson, 39, was charged last week with allegedly shooting to death Leslie Ruiz-Basilio, 28, during a robbery on May 15 at a Metro PCS store in Elsmere, Delaware. On June 5 in Wilmington, he allegedly killed Ronald Wright, 42, during a street robbery.
Those killings are in addition to ones he has already been charged with in Philadelphia, including the fatal shooting of his mother, Christine Gibson, in February earlier this year.
His alleged reign of death in Delaware and Philadelphia since the start of 2021 now includes Eric Flores and Roy Caban, police say. The men were killed in January inside their store, Al Madinah Traders, on Germantown Avenue near Broad Street.
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A Philadelphia police spokeswoman said Gibson would face murder charges in their deaths once he is extradited from Delaware. It is unclear when he will be taken back to Philadelphia.
"The charges in this indictment reflect the brutal nature of this individual's crimes, as well as the significant risk he posed to public safety in our community and throughout our region," Wilmington Police Chief Robert J. Tracy said last week in a statement announcing charges against Gibson for the two Delaware killings. "I am proud of the efforts of our officers responding to his latest armed robbery, who were able to take him into custody and ensure he is held responsible for his senseless, ruthless crime spree and the harm he brought about so many individuals and families.”
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Gibson has an extensive criminal record dating to 2010, when he was convicted of manslaughter and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
In June 2020, Gibson was released from prison and sent to Level IV Community Corrections custody.
Delaware Department of Corrections spokesman Jason Miller said Gibson violated probation by fighting with other offenders and was sentenced to six more months in prison, followed by 18 months of probation.
In December 2020, Gibson was once again released from prison and began his probation term.
Then in January 2021, two men were shot dead in a store in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood, but police did not recover a gun. Investigators said Gibson may have been involved in that shooting and continue to investigate his possible connection.
In February 2021, Gibson’s mother, Christine Gibson, was shot dead in her place of work in Philadelphia.
Family and friends told police Keith Gibson had been released from jail and raised concerns about his behavior. Police found Gibson had violated probation, but they did not recover a gun, and video didn’t show him at the location of his mom’s murder, meaning any evidence linking Gibson was only “circumstantial,” according to officials.
In a Delaware Department of Corrections report, Gibson’s probation officer wrote that Philadelphia police had contacted him to tell him Gibson was in their custody and being eyed as a suspect in his mother’s death. The officer requested that Gibson’s probation be revoked and that he be given a maximum sentence.
Toward the end of March 2021, Gibson was extradited from Philadelphia to Delaware, according to Miller.
On April 13, the judge in a probation hearing found Gibson guilty. Sentencing was delayed by two weeks to provide the defense time.
On April 27, at the sentencing hearing, Gibson's public defender presented new evidence that the 39-year-old had community support lined up as well as job prospects. Parole officials did not object to a recommendation by the public defender to sentence Gibson to time served plus 18 months probation. The judge accepted the recommendation.
On May 15, Leslie Ruiz-Basilio, a mother of two, was shot to death by a masked man while working at an Elsmere, Delaware, Metro by T-Mobile store. The man fled in Ruiz-Basilio’s vehicle. Elsmere police later contacted Philadelphia police, saying the man they were looking for fit Gibson’s description.
On June 5, a masked man carrying a revolver forced Christine Lugo, also a mother, into a Dunkin’ store in Philadelphia’s Fairhill neighborhood.
Surveillance video captured the suspect forcing Lugo to give him money – which Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Frank Vanore said amounted to around $300 – before shooting and fleeing. Philadelphia police were then contacted by Elsmere police, and both agencies began working “very closely” together, Vanore said.
Around 2:24 a.m. on June 6, 42-year-old Ronald Wright was shot and killed in a street robbery in Wilmington, Delaware. Police are investigating whether Gibson was involved in that incident.
On Tuesday, June 7, Gibson was arrested on suspicion of pistol-whipping a Rite Aid clerk during another Wilmington robbery. Police tracked him down by using a GPS tracker that was in some of the money handed over to him.
They found him in possession of a revolver. The same type of weapon was used in the Philadelphia killing of Lugo at the Dunkin’ store.
On Wednesday, June 9, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner approved murder charges against Gibson in Lugo’s slaying. A week later, he approved murder charges against Gibson in his own mother’s slaying earlier this year.
