Police identify foster mother found dead inside Mayfair home

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia police have identified a young mother who was found dead inside a home in Mayfair Thursday night. 

Officers responded to a home on the 4100 block of Levick Street at 6:56 p.m. after receiving a 911 call from the victim's mother.

When officers arrived on the scene they were met by the victim's mother who directed them to a second-floor bedroom, where they found Lexus Jawanda Brice, 25,  suffering from a gunshot wound to the right side of her neck.

Medics were called to the scene and Brice was pronounced dead just after 7 p.m.

Investigators say the murder happened while the woman’s three foster children were in the care of the next-door neighbor. It's unclear if any neighbors heard the woman’s struggle or witnessed anyone enter or exit the home.

Police say the Brice works for a bus company in the city and as a home healthcare worker and was at work at 8 a.m. Thursday. Detectives are trying to confirm what time she came home, but believe she died between 11:30 a.m. and noon Thursday.

A single 9mm shell casing was removed from the bedroom. Brice is the registered owner of two 9mm handguns and neither of which were recovered from the home. Police are not sure if anything else was taken from the home. 

The foster children, ages 13, 6, and 3 months, have been taken back into the care of the Department of Human Services. 

So far, no arrests have been made. The investigation is ongoing.

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