Home invader accused of butchering beloved children’s doctor as he SLEPT next to his wife allegedly broke into another home weeks before…but was FREED from jail

The alleged home invader accused of butchering a beloved children’s doctor as he slept beside his wife had already been accused of breaking into another Pittsburgh home months earlier – but was had been allowed back on to the streets in July.

Elijah Hemingway, 32, stands accused of murdering Dr Idris Evans, 46, after allegedly slipping through an open window of the pediatric specialist’s family home.

Hemingway is accused of launching a savage knife attack inside the Evans’ bedroom shortly after 12.30am on Thursday morning.

Police say he climbed through an open window in Edgewood, Allegheny County, before making his way upstairs to the room where the doctor and his wife were asleep.. 

It has now emerged that Hemingway was already facing burglary and theft charges over a break-in in February at the home of an ex-partner, according to authorities.

It took months for police to arrest him on July 9 – and he was released the following day on July 10.  

In that case, police alleged Hemingway forced his way into the woman’s home on Overbeck Street in Pittsburgh while she was dropping her child off at day care.

He allegedly stole a laptop and two iPhones from the property.

The woman told investigators Hemingway had never lived at the home and had no permission to be inside.

Hemingway was charged with burglary and theft by unlawful taking over the alleged break-in but was ultimately released from jail while that case remained pending.

The February burglary case was far from Hemingway’s first brush with law enforcement, according to records uncovered by Pittsburgh’s Action News 4.

In Florida in 2025, Hemingway was accused of attacking three sheriff’s deputies after allegedly causing a disturbance inside a Wells Fargo bank.

Police said he left the bank and crossed to the Deltona Plaza Shopping Center, where he began making concerning statements.

Hemingway allegedly told one deputy that the officer was part of a simulation and at another point referred to himself as an Egyptian Pharaoh.

He then allegedly ran off and jumped onto parked vehicles.

A deputy intended to have Hemingway evaluated under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows people meeting certain criteria to be involuntarily detained for a mental health examination, but when the deputy chased him, Hemingway allegedly turned around and punched him.

More deputies arrived and tried to restrain Hemingway, but authorities alleged he struck and pushed one deputy, pushed another and kicked a third.

Hemingway was charged and later pleaded no contest to battery of a law enforcement officer.

In another Florida case that year, Hemingway was accused of attacking an ex-girlfriend with whom he lived in Deltona.

During an argument, authorities alleged he repeatedly punched the woman and grabbed her by the neck.

The terrified woman told police she fled into a bathroom with her son, locked the door and called for help.

When deputies arrived, Hemingway allegedly refused to speak with them and insisted he had done nothing wrong.

A criminal complaint in that case noted that a records check revealed ‘multiple prior arrested for assault and aggravated assault in Pennsylvania with no prosecution.’

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala has also said authorities are investigating whether Hemingway could be connected to a sexual assault case in the county.

Meanwhile, Dr Evans’ killing has devastated his colleagues and neighbors.

The respected doctor was medical director of the Pediatric Critical Care Transport Team at UPMC Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor of critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

‘Dr. Evans was a dedicated caregiver and valued member of our hospital and university communities,’ UPMC said.

‘Our thoughts are with his family, loved ones, and colleagues during this difficult time. We ask that their privacy be respected.’

A heartbreaking GoFundMe page set up for Evans’ wife and their two young children paid tribute to the doctor remembering him ‘a father, a husband, a brother, a friend, and one of the best humans that I had the opportunity to know.’

‘If you were lucky enough to have ever met him, he probably made you laugh,’ the organizer, Neil Devani, wrote. ‘Unless you were one of his patients, in which case he probably saved your life… and made you laugh.’

The tribute told how Evans had spent more than a decade caring for some of the sickest children in and around Pittsburgh after choosing ‘one of the hardest paths in medicine’ – pediatric critical care.

As medical director of the Pediatric Transport Team at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Evans also helped lead other doctors and medical professionals fighting to save children’s lives.

‘The choice to do that kind of work, subjecting yourself to the repeated heartbreak of losing children just to have the opportunity to save the ones you can, perfectly epitomizes the type of man that Idris Evans was,’ the tribute said.

‘He was the best of us.’

Away from the hospital, Evans was remembered as a devoted family man who was ‘full of jokes, a loving husband and father, and a great friend.’

Edgewood police acknowledged the shock rippling through the community following the brutal killing.

‘We are a small and close-knit community and we are sure that many of you may be feeling shaken today,’ the department said.

‘You may be sad, angry, anxious, distracted, or just having a hard time making sense of what happened.’

Evans’ wife told investigators she awoke to a nightmare: Hemingway, clad only in his underwear and allegedly wielding a kitchen knife, attacking the couple.

‘It was a very violent scene – the bedroom furniture broken, mirrors broken. It was a very graphic scene,’ Allegheny County Police Assistant Superintendent Victor Joseph said.

Evans and his wife desperately fought back, according to the criminal complaint.

His wife recalled her husband addressing their alleged attacker as ‘Elijah’ during the struggle, although investigators have said it remains unclear whether Evans and Hemingway knew one another or whether Hemingway had told him his name.

She also recalled the intruder making a bizarre reference to ‘being God.’

Despite suffering serious injuries herself, Evans’ wife managed to break free.

She screamed for the couple’s two children, aged eight and 12, to get out before escaping to a neighbor’s home and calling police.

Officers arriving at the house found Evans and his wife suffering from multiple stab wounds.

Both were rushed to hospital in critical condition, but doctors were unable to save Evans.

Hemingway was later discovered hiding behind a nearby home with injuries to his hand.

Neighbor Sandra Trappen said she woke to police flooding the normally quiet neighborhood before realizing the suspect they were hunting was concealed in her own backyard.

‘I was going to walk out in the backyard, and then all of the officers rushed through the backyard, so I just kind of stayed back,’ Trappen told WTAE.

‘Once they found him, he appeared to be bleeding and incapacitated,’ she added.

‘He had found a way to conceal himself, but apparently he was injured and bleeding.’

Hemingway was detained and taken to a hospital for treatment.

Police said he later claimed Evans had invited him to the house hours before the attack and alleged that the doctor and his wife attacked him.

Authorities said Hemingway could not provide details to substantiate that account.

He has been charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, burglary and criminal trespass.