A 61-year-old father died after police say his son stabbed him during an argument.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — A front porch on the 600 block of West Wingohocking Street became the center of a homicide case after police said a man was found there with fatal neck wounds late April 4.
The victim was Kevin Jenkins, 61, and the man charged was his son, Devin Jenkins, 28. Police said the two had been arguing before the younger Jenkins stabbed his father multiple times. Officers responding to a report of a person with a weapon found Kevin Jenkins on the porch and arrested Devin Jenkins at the home. The case now moves through court with a murder charge, a weapons count and several public gaps in the account, including the reason for the argument and the evidence recovered at the scene.
The block identified by police is a residential part of North Philadelphia where the first visible sign of the crime, according to the public account, was outside the home. Officers were called at approximately 11:34 p.m. Saturday. They found Kevin Jenkins lying on the porch with multiple stab wounds to his neck. The porch detail matters because it places the victim at the front of the property when help arrived. It also gives investigators a possible scene that could include blood evidence, footprints, doorways, nearby cameras and the path taken by officers and medics. Police have not released a scene diagram or said where the stabbing began.
Kevin Jenkins was taken by emergency medical workers to an area hospital. He was pronounced dead at 12:11 a.m. Sunday, police said. That time stamp made his death part of the early hours of April 5, even though the emergency response began late the night before. Public reports do not identify the hospital in every account, though one local report said he was taken to Einstein Hospital. Police have not released the medical examiner’s final language beyond the description of multiple stab wounds. They also have not said whether investigators recovered clothing, a weapon or other physical evidence from the porch or inside the residence.
Devin Jenkins was arrested at the scene, and police said he was treated at a different hospital for a minor laceration to his left index finger. He was later processed and charged. The finger injury has not been explained in public documents or police summaries. It may become a detail reviewed in court if prosecutors connect it to the alleged weapon or if defense attorneys challenge how the injury occurred. The public reports do not say whether Jenkins was tested for alcohol or drugs, whether officers recovered a statement from him or whether body-camera video captured his arrest. Those questions remain outside the information released so far.
The official account of motive remains brief. Police said a preliminary investigation found that father and son had been in an argument. They did not say what the argument concerned, who started it, whether it was loud enough for neighbors to hear or how long it lasted. They did not say whether the older man tried to leave, whether the younger man approached him with a weapon or whether the confrontation moved from one part of the property to another. Without those facts, the public narrative is limited to the outcome and the charge. The deeper account will likely depend on witness statements, forensic evidence and any future testimony.
In court, Devin Jenkins faces murder and possession of an instrument of crime with intent. He appeared for a preliminary arraignment in Philadelphia County court on the Monday after the killing and was ordered held without bail at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, according to court records cited in public reports. A preliminary hearing had been scheduled for April 20. At that stage, prosecutors typically call witnesses or present evidence to show that the case should proceed. Public reports reviewed after the scheduled date did not confirm whether that hearing was completed, continued or otherwise changed.
The Homicide Unit’s work is continuing, police said. In a stabbing case with a known suspect arrested at the scene, investigators still must answer detailed questions before trial. They must establish where the weapon came from, how many wounds were inflicted, whether there were defensive injuries, what the defendant did after the stabbing and whether any witnesses can describe the argument. They must also preserve records of the 911 call, dispatch times, hospital treatment and the victim’s official cause and manner of death. Public reports so far do not include those records, and police have not announced additional arrests.
The public record also leaves Kevin Jenkins mostly defined by the circumstances of his death. Reports list his age, his relationship to the accused man and the injuries police found when officers arrived. They do not include a family statement, obituary details or comments from neighbors. That absence is common in early crime coverage but important in a case where the victim and defendant shared a last name and a family tie. Devin Jenkins has not issued a public statement through an attorney in the reports reviewed, and no defense explanation has been made public.
By April 29, the case remained publicly described as an ongoing Philadelphia homicide investigation. Devin Jenkins was the only person named as charged, Kevin Jenkins was the only victim identified and police had not released the cause of the argument that preceded the fatal stabbing.
Author note: Last updated April 29, 2026.