WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Montgomery County district attorney Bruce Castor told reporters Wednesday morning that his office won’t rule out that porn actress Taylor Sumers died during the making of an apparent snuff film in Conshohocken.
It has also been learned that investigators have obtained a search warrant to look for a photo collection that may contain evidence related to her death.
Castor’s office has charged a Montgomery County photographer with the death of the 23-year-old Canadian porn actress, who was missing for nearly a month.
Castor said Anthony Frederick of Eagleville, Pa., was arrested about midnight Tuesday night and charged with first- and third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime, unsworn falsification to authorities, and abuse of a corpse.
Frederick was arraigned Wednesday afternoon and ordered held without bail. He told reporters afterward that he wasn’t present during the murder. Asked if he was not guilty, he replied, “Yes I am.”
Authorities said Frederick was last seen with the actress and model, born Natel King, on Feb. 29.
Castor said that based on evidence presented in an affidavit, he wouldn’t discount that Sumers’ death was caught on camera.
“The murder took place as part of a sexual bondage fantasy,” Castor said. He also said that Sumers may have been at a “snuff shoot” where a person’s death is simulated on film.
According to the affidavit, Sumers’ body was found with a bondage ball in her mouth and bondage gear on her person.
The document said the police believed they found photographs taken by Frederick of Sumers wearing similar gear.
Police also said they found bondage equipment at Frederick’s Conshohocken studio. Castor said that her body, which was found Tuesday in Whitemarsh Township, was identified from a tattoo and birthmarks.
Sumers had gone to Conshohocken for a late February photo shoot. Her car was found parked on a local street a few days later.
Her naked, decomposing body was found Tuesday in a ravine near the Schuylkill River, about 30 feet from a road in Whitemarsh Township.
Castor said Frederick had taken about 20 photos of King with another woman, Jennifer Mitkus, who allegedly is Frederick’s assistant. Mitkus, 29, of Oaks, Pa., has also been charged with unsworn falsification and hindering apprehension.