Norristown, PA – Lower Providence photographer Anthony J. Frederick killed Canadian sex model Natel King in a dispute over money, according to Frederick’s attorney. “He (Frederick) said, ‘All this because I didn’t have $200,'” defense attorney Richard D. Winters said his client told county detectives in an interview earlier this month.

Frederick, 46, of the 1100 block of Bayless Place, Lower Providence, is charged with first- and third-degree murder and related offenses in the Feb. 29 stabbing death of the tall, blond 23-year-old Canadian college student who posed for adult entertainment photos and films under the name “Taylor Sumers” to earn money for college.

Frederick, who rented an apartment studio in the 100 block of West Third Street in Conshohocken for his photography work, was scheduled yesterday to give detectives a written statement confessing to the murder, said Winters. Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr., who is prosecuting the case, initially had speculated that the motive behind the slaying was either money or the making of a snuff video gone awry.

“There was an argument, he had no money to pay her and things got out of hand,” said Winters. “There was no premeditation.”

Frederick’s oral statement to detectives was used as a basis for authorities this week to file additional charges against Jennifer Mitkus, who assisted Frederick during the King photo shoot. Mitkus, who was initially charged with lying to authorities about her last contact with King, now faces 12 new charges reflecting more involvement in the cover-up of the murder.

In return for Frederick’s confession, prosecutors have agreed to drop the first-degree murder charge against his client, said Winters. Frederick was facing an automatic life sentence if convicted of first-degree murder.

Instead, when Frederick is scheduled to go to trial on Feb. 28, he will plead guilty to third-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison, and the other offenses, according to Winters.

It will be an “open” guilty plea, meaning there is no agreement between the defense and prosecution on a sentence and that the sentence will be left to a judge to decide.

Following the stabbing, Frederick and Mitkus began cleaning the crime scene as King’s body lay on the basement floor, according to the new criminal complaint filed against Mitkus and based on claims made by Frederick.

Frederick placed King’s body in a wool blanket while Mitkus began sopping up King’s blood which had started to run across the floor to the base of the steps, the complaint said.

The pair used paper towels, cloth towels, blankets and tarps and all of the commercial cleaning products they could find inside the Conshohocken studio, according to the complaint.

At one point when Frederick went upstairs to wash his hands and, according to Frederick, it was then that Mitkus twice stabbed King’s lifeless body with the same Colt hunting knife that he used, the complaint said.

The pair placed all of the items used in the cleaning into two large plastic bags that were later discarded, the complaint said. Frederick also used dirt, sand and mortar to further conceal evidence of the crime scene.

Wrapping King’s body in a photographer’s backdrop, Frederick and Mitkus carried the body upstairs and placed it in the back of Frederick’s SUV, the complaint said.

Leaving Mitkus behind to move King’s car, Frederick drove away in his SUV, according to the complaint. He stopped at a convenience store in West Conshohocken, at which time he removed his blood-covered shirt and boots and, along with the knife, place them in a plastic bag and tossed them into a trash can at the store.

Frederick then drove to Whitemarsh where he dumped the body over a guardrail. King’s body, which rolled down an embankment, was discovered last March 23 by a passerby walking along River Road near Harts Lane.

The coroner’s office ruled King’s death a homicide, saying she died from multiple stab wounds to the neck and upper body.

Frederick and Mitkus were arrested the following day. Frederick has been held at the county prison on no bail since his arrest.