Mother of Accused Gunman, Neighbors, Reflect on Arrest in Housesitter Shooting

The mother of a man arrested over the weekend for fatally shooting a housesitter last month answered the door at the crime scene Monday morning.

"Yes, he is my son," the stout, gray-haired woman told a reporter at the door of her home on the corner of Mayflower Drive and Johnson Road in the Sicklerville section of Gloucester Township. Her lower lip quivered slightly as she spoke.

"I have no further comment," she said, keeping a foot in front of one of four barking dachshunds before closing a door that was parted open.

The woman's son, Timothy Donnelly, 46, was arrested Saturday and charged in the fatal shooting of Kathleen Korbel, 54. Korbel, of Washington Township, was housesitting pets at the Mayflower Drive home when a friend found her bullet-riddled body shortly before 5 p.m. on Sept. 20. 

Donnelly, of Elk Township, a military veteran, was arrested in a Coatsville, PA Veterans Administration hospital, Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office said Monday. 

Donnelly's mother is not believed to have been involved in the incident, investigators said. She and another woman who live at the home were reportedly on vacation when the body was found. 

Authorities said Donnelly allegedly robbed Korbel of prescription drugs and killed her.

Despite the arrest, some neighbors on Mayflower Drive remained concerned.

"I'm still afraid," said Grace Cerrone, as she sought shelter on her small porch on Mayflower Drive as a steady morning rain started to fall. "It's wonderful they caught him, but what he did was horrible."

Another neighbor, who lives across the street, who only identified himself as John, said he was home when police first arrived on Sept. 20.

"I don't know what kind of gun he used," he said. "I didn't hear any noise."

John said he still feels safe.

"This could have happened anywhere," he said. "There are bad people everywhere."