A Pittsburgh-area doctor is dead and his wife severely wounded after a man with a lengthy criminal history and a documented history of erratic behavior broke into their Allegheny County home early Thursday, according to police and court records.
Elijah Hemingway, 32, is charged with killing Dr. Idris Evans, co-Medical Director of the Pediatric Transport Team at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and an Assistant Professor of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Evans’ wife, Gina, was also stabbed in the attack, which occurred just after 12:30 a.m. inside the family’s home.
Court records obtained by the New York Post show Hemingway had 22 prior criminal charges, including three tied to a bizarre 2024 incident in Daytona, Florida, in which he was recorded on police bodycam leaping across cars in a parking lot while declaring himself an ancient Egyptian pharaoh.
“I am King Tutankhamun.”
When a Florida officer asked Hemingway in that footage whether he had thoughts of harming himself or others, he replied, “No, I am a spirit. I am not a physical being,” before claiming to be the reincarnation of King Tut. Three additional charges in his record stem from an alleged assault on a girlfriend.
Records show Hemingway was arrested in July on burglary and theft charges connected to a separate home break-in from earlier this year — but was released just hours later on non-monetary bail, meaning he did not have to post cash to walk free while the case proceeded.
A Chaotic Scene
According to court documents cited by WPXI, Gina Evans told police that Hemingway was stripped to his underwear and ranting about God and “being God” when he broke into the home. She said her husband yelled “Elijah” during the attack, as though he recognized the intruder, though investigators have not been able to establish any prior connection between the two men. Hemingway told officials he had been invited to the house, but authorities could not verify the claim, and he could not explain to police how he knew Evans.
The couple’s two children, ages 8 and 12, fled to a neighbor’s home after their mother told them to run.
Hemingway remained hospitalized at UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh as of Friday.
UPMC issued a statement following Evans’ death: “The UPMC and University of Pittsburgh community is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Dr. Idris Evans, a pediatric critical care physician at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and an assistant professor of critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.”
The case is likely to renew scrutiny of pretrial release policies, given that Hemingway was free on non-monetary bail at the time of the fatal home invasion, despite a criminal record spanning more than twenty prior charges.
