05/27/2026
JIHAD HENDERSON CHARGED FOR THE 2018 MURDER OF RITHINA TORN IN A CHELTENHAM ROAD RAGE INCIDENT
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse and Cheltenham Township Police Chief John P. Slavin announce the arrest of Jihad Henderson, 38, of Philadelphia, for the 2018 road rage homicide of 29-year-old Rithina Torn, who was fatally shot during a road rage incident in the Melrose Park section of Cheltenham Township.
โA recent ballistics match between a gun used in a 2024 near-fatal shooting in Delaware County was the same gun used to murder Rithina Torn in 2018 and the same man was holding that gun,โ said DA Steele. โTornโs murder was unsolved until that ballistics match provided a much-needed lead for our detectives, and Iโm very grateful that we can finally share the news with the victimโs family that we have arrested Jihad Henderson on First-Degree Murder charges in Tornโs killing.โ
Tornโs murder happened at approximately 9:30 p.m., Oct. 15, 2018, at the intersection of Dewey Road and Front Street. Cheltenham Police arrived to find the victim lying in the street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. A joint homicide investigation by Cheltenham Township Police and Montgomery County Detectives found through witness statements and video surveillance that a dark-colored sedan had been driving the wrong way down Dewey Street when it nearly struck the Honda Civic in which Torn was a passenger. When the sedan stopped at a redlight, Torn exited the passenger side of the Honda and walked to the driverโs side window of the sedan, when he was shot multiple times by the sedanโs driver. The suspect vehicle then fled.
The DAโs Office released video of the suspect vehicle and offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the shooterโs arrest, but the case remained unsolved. A fired cartridge casing (FCC) was recovered from the shooting scene and was entered into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), which compares ballistic evidence from recovered fi****ms and shootings across the United States and notifies law enforcement of any potential similar results or leads as they arise.
The Montgomery County Detective Bureau was notified on Nov. 1, 2024, that an FCC recovered at a shooting on Oct. 13, 2024, in the parking lot behind the Target store in Springfield Township in Delaware County was a potential match for the 2018 murder. Further investigation by two Montgomery County ballistics and fi****ms expertsโincluding a side-by-side, microscopic inspection of the FCCs from the 2018 and the 2024 shootingsโconfirmed that the bullets were fired by the same gun, which was Hendersonโs legally owned G***k .40 caliber handgun.
By the time of the confirmation, Henderson had been arrested and charged in the 2024 Target shooting by the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division and was in the Delaware County Prison, where he remains after having been convicted on April 24, 2026, of Aggravated AssaultโSerious Bodily Injury, Simple Assault and Possessing following a jury trial. He is scheduled to be sentenced in that case on June 29, 2026.
โThis arrest is a testament to the power of inter-agency cooperation and our being able to help our colleagues in Montgomery County get justice for Rithina Torn. That would never have been done without the trust, respect and dialogue between our two offices,โ said DA Rouse.
Henderson is awaiting arraignment on charges of First-Degree Murder, Third-Degree Murder and Possessing an Instrument of Crime related to the 2018 murder of Torn. A preliminary hearing will be scheduled at that time.
CRIMINAL CHARGES, AND ANY DISCUSSION THEREOF, ARE MERELY ALLEGATIONS AND ALL DEFENDANTS ARE PRESUMED INNOCENT UNTIL AND UNLESS PROVEN GUILTY.
