NORRISTOWN, PA — Montgomery County prosecutors announced Wednesday that they have made an arrest in connection with a 2019 Pottstown killing in which the body of the victim was found buried at an arboretum miles away in Northwest Philadelphia.

The killing of 22-year-old Pottstown resident Rashid Young had remained unsolved until just this week when investigators were able to use dental records to ID the victim, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office announced.

Authorities arrested Keshaun Sheffield, 20, of Philadelphia, in connection with the Aug. 19, 2019, killing, which occurred in Young's High Street apartment in western Montgomery County.

The D.A.'s Office said the investigation began two weeks ago when a private investigator who had been hired by the victim's family contacted the Montgomery County Detective Bureau asking authorities to look into the disappearance of Young, who had been reported missing to the Pottstown Police Department back in December 2019.

Investigators learned, through the help of a confidential informant and cellphone records, that Sheffield and Young had been involved in a romantic relationship for about two years up until the time of Young's disappearance.

Homicide detectives soon determined that Young had been stabbed to death in his Pottstown apartment back on Aug. 19, 2019, and that Sheffield subsequently transported Young's body to Sheffield's mother's Philadelphia home using a Pottstown Borough recycling container to move the remains, according to the D.A.'s Office.

Once in Philadelphia, Sheffield, assisted by a friend, went to the Awbury Arboretum in Northwest Philadelphia, dug a hole, and then returned sometime later to bury Young's body, the D.A.'s Office stated.

The decomposing remains were found in late September 2019 by an Awbury Arboretum landscaper, who contacted the Philadelphia Police Department.

At the time, the body had remained unidentified.

Montgomery County authorities said that Sheffield, meanwhile, accessed Young's social media accounts and remained active on them to give the appearance that Young was actually still alive.

Sheffield also used Young's cellphone to communicate with Young's family in order to keep up the ruse, according to the D.A.s Office.

Prosecutors also said that Sheffield made numerous withdraws from the victim's $2 million trust fund before Young had been declared missing, only after which the account was frozen.

"Since August 2019, a family has been searching for information about their missing son," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said in a statement. "Today, we shared with them the tragic details of his death and will be able to return his remains to them for a proper burial. "

Steele said the situation was "yet another case of relationship violence that turned into a murder."

"People need to know that there is help available to them if they are in a violent relationship through Laurel House and the Women's Center of Montgomery County," Steele said.

Sheffield is being charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, theft by unlawful taking/disposition, receiving stolen property, possessing an instrument of crime, and access device fraud.

An arraignment has not yet taken place and Sheffield remains in custody, as there is no bail for defendants in first-degree murder cases in Pennsylvania.

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