SHOCKING new claims have been made about a beloved journalist who was killed in a brutal fashion earlier this month.

Josh Kruger, 39, was fatally shot seven times after a man entered his Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, home on October 2.

Now, the family of the accused killer – Robert Davis, 19 – is claiming the two had a relationship and that Kruger was blackmailing the younger man by threatening to release sexual videos online.

Although an arrest warrant has been issued, the suspect remains at large.

The suspect’s mother Damica Davis told The Philadelphia Inquirer spoke to her son on the phone just hours before police burst into her home hoping to find him.

“He was scared,” she said of Robert, who she urged to turn himself in.

The 19-year-old claimed he was being threatened by Kruger before the shooting.

“He wanted me to do some stuff I didn’t want to do and if I didn’t do it, he said he was going to blackmail me,” Robert told Damica, she said.

“I think he could answer a lot of questions if he comes into custody and surrenders,” Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore told The Inquirer.

The mother also provided more details about her son’s challenging upbringing.

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He struggled with mental health issues from a young age which were worsened by the lack of contact with his biological father.

At age 15, Robert began sneaking out at night and coming back high.

Shortly thereafter, he told his family he had struck up a relationship with an older woman who worked in the city government.

Damica believes this was actually Kruger, who worked as a communications official for the city from 2015 to 2020.

“We’ve only had pieces of everything,” the mother said.

“We could never put the pieces together, and now everything is coming out and we see what’s going on.”

Damica said: “It’s tragic what happened… But I feel like my son is a victim in this, as well.”

Kruger was a celebrated community advocate who began a reporting career after getting a handle on his crystal meth addiction in 2013.

Before that he struggled with homelessness and an HIV diagnosis.

Kruger often relied on sex work to survive.

After leaving the city government, Kruger returned to his reporting work which focused on topics that intersected with his personal life.

But police sources told The Inquirer the journalist was hiding parts of his life from the public.

They said investigators found a baggie of crystal meth in Kruger’s bedroom.