Family, Friends Gather to Honor Life of Murder Victim

More than 70 friends and relatives met at the Garden of Remembrance at the on Saturday, June 2 to hold a candlelight vigil in memory of Corey Kesselman, 20, who was in his apartment at Meadowood Condominiums in Warminster on May 25.

"He loved everybody," said Joe Sorrentino, a longtime friend of Kesselman and one of the organizers for Saturday's gathering. "He was very funny, always doing goofy things."

Sorrentino invited everybody to place any objects that held special meaning for Kesselman into a memory box that would be given to his family. Paper and pens were also handed out for people to write special messages that would be left at the cemetary where Kesselman is buried.

"I found some guitar picks in my dryer," said Kitty Kesselman, Corey's grandmother. "I'm going to put a couple in the box, and his sister is going to make a necklace for me out of the rest."

Steven Kesselman, Corey's father, said that his son started getting into music when he was 11 years old, taking guitar lessons but not practicing as much as he should.

"A year later, he picked up the guitar again on his own and started teaching himself," said Kesselman. "He got really good. Corey was really into the heavy, death metal stuff. It sounded more like noise than music to me, but he loved it."

The turnout for Saturday's memorial showed Kesselman how much his son meant to people, but he said it was minimal to the more than 500 people that attended Corey's funeral.

"He was an easy-going, open person," said Kesselman. "He wanted to be everyone's friend."

After graduating from Council Rock High School South in 2009, Corey led a somewhat nomadic life. According to his grandmother, he would move from his parents' house to her house, then live for a while with his friends, then back to her house, and so on. Finally, his employer at  made room for him in an apartment that he leases for employees at the Meadowood Condominiums.

"He had only lived there for five days," said Kitty. "I spoke with him over the phone on Thursday to get ready for his birthday party on Sunday. Corey told me everything was fine and he was doing great. It's the last thing in the world you would expect to hear the next day that he was gone."

According to reports, a late night dispute over a marijuana cigarette allegedly led to his roommate, Erin Mitchell, shooting Kesselman in the back with a shotgun. Kesselman was able to call 911, but died at the scene as EMTs tried to save his life.

walking along Norristown Road later that day and brought him in for questioning. According to police, Mitchell admitted to shooting Kesselman and has been charged with murder. Another man, Jamel Cahoe, has been charged with tampering with evidence for allegedly hiding the shotgun.

"It's just absolutely tragic what happened," said Sorrentino. "We are holding this [memorial] to also raise awareness for crimes like this. It's inexcusable what he did to Corey, and I hope he never gets out of jail."