May 10, 2022 5 min read

Anthony King told the sister of William Worry III that he planned to “blow his (expletive) head off” during a phone call shortly before the fatal shooting, according to her testimony Monday during King’s homicide trial.

Cassandra Worry said she had been friends with King, so she called him to try to diffuse the volatile situation as William Worry planned to help his former girlfriend, Alicia Pressacco, move belongings and toys from King’s house in Monongahela Township where she and her children had been living in recent weeks.

“He was very angry,” Worry testified to King’s demeanor as she said she tried to calm him down.

“If he comes to my house, I’ll blow his (expletive) head off. Do you hear this?” Worry recalled King telling her before he pumped a shotgun so it could be heard over the phone.

“I told him there was no need to do that. There was no need for a fight. … I thought I could get through to him,” Worry said.

But hours later, she learned her brother had been shot, prompting her to call King to get an explanation. Worry testified she told King that he would be going to jail, to which he acknowledged “and then he laughed” before hanging up the phone.

“Like it was funny that he killed my brother,” Worry said while sobbing on the witness stand.

King, 24, is on trial for homicide and other charges in the Feb. 14, 2019, shooting death of Worry III inside King’s trailer at 145 Alicia Main St. near Greensboro. Worry, 23, of Smithfield, Fayette County, died at the scene from a gunshot wound to his face.

Pressacco, who had two children with Worry, had been dating King and moved into the trailer in late January 2019. But their relationship soured with King’s heavy drinking around her children, including during a night at neighbor’s house Feb. 9, 2019, when she finally had enough and decided to end it following a fit of rage by King at their trailer.

Pressacco and the children left that night, but she wanted to return at some point that week to get her belongings and children’s toys from the house. As it became clear the break-up was permanent, King called Pressacco’s mother late on Feb. 13 and told her that he would dump the items on the curb if she didn’t pick them up immediately. In response, Pressacco arranged to borrow Worry’s family vehicle and the two of them went with an acquaintance, Melissa Lindsay, to King’s trailer in the early hours of Feb. 14 to pick up the belongings.

Worry and Pressacco previously had a romantic relationship that she said ended in October 2018, but King thought it was ongoing while they were dating, according to testimony. Pressacco testified that Worry came with her because the toys were those of his children.

“He was just ready to get (my) belongings and get me out of that situation,” she said.

Worry waited outside while Pressacco and Lindsay carried toys and other belongings outside, and Worry then loaded them into his SUV. But a Barbie Dream House play set was too fragile and bulky for Pressacco to carry since she was pregnant at the time, so she asked King if Worry could come inside to get that item before they left.

“Why don’t you invite him in for a cup of tea?” King responded, according to testimony.

Lindsay testified that she thought the comment was meant to be sarcastic, but Pressacco thought it was permission, and Worry came in to retrieve the dollhouse. As he was walking out the door, Pressacco testified that King walked out of a back bedroom with a shotgun, raised it toward Worry’s face and told him to “get the (expletive) out.”

Worry, who was holding the dollhouse and standing in the doorway getting ready to leave, turned his body and responded to King.

“You’re really going to shoot me after you invited me in?” Pressacco recalled Worry saying.

“And then he shot him,” Pressacco testified.

She recalled King’s demeanor as “cold, like he had no heart” as he hovered over Worry’s lifeless body and blamed the situation on Pressacco.

“He stood over his body looking down … to make sure he was dead,” Pressacco said, adding that King then walked back down the hallway only to return moments later still holding the shotgun to check again that Worry had died.

Pressacco called 911 and Lindsay called Worry’s mother, Susan, to tell her what had happened. The two women attempted to roll Worry onto his side to help with his breathing, but he died within a matter of minutes.

“I just witnessed someone kill somebody,” Pressacco said. “I wasn’t OK.”

In addition to homicide, King is facing charges of aggravated assault and two counts of reckless endangerment. The trial entered its second week of testimony after beginning May 3. The prosecution closed its case with Pressacco’s testimony Monday afternoon, and the defense was expected to begin calling witnesses this morning.