Homicide Watch D.C.

In brief:

James Deangelo Sandidge, 22, was arrested on suspicion of murder two while armed in connection with the fatal shooting of Keenan Jerel Lee.

Antonio Jones was ordered held on suspicion of second degree murder while armed after Judge Thomas Motley found substantial probability that Jones killed Davon Gray in a shooting on Oct. 15.

Katrell Henry was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the 2010 Shooting of Laroy Bryant.

Henry Diaz-Antunuez, 19, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of second degree murder while armed in connection with the shooting death of David Eduardo Gonzalez on July 19. Court records do not show that he has been presented with the charge.

Brian Gaither and Johnnie Sweet each pleaded innocent today to first degree and felony murder and kidnapping in the death of Latisha Frazier in Aug. 2010.

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We’re working on our year-end coverage. If you have an idea for a story you’d like to see on Homicide Watch, or if there’s something you’d like to write for Homicide Watch, let us know in the comments section of this post or by emailing editor Laura Amico at HomicideWatchDC [AT] gmail.com

In crime news:

Keenan Jerel Lee, 20, was identified as the victim of last Saturday’s fatal shooting near Howard University.

A shooting killed Andre Wiggins, 19, on Wednesday.

In courts news:

Derek Johnson was ordered held after Judge Robert Richter found “substantial probability” to Johnson killed Jamar Freeman in a stabbing on Oct. 8.

A murder charge against Felicia Jones in the stabbing death of Jodie Ward was reduced to assault until D.C.’s medical examiner determines a cause of death for Ward.

Charging documents in the case against Tarkeyshia R. Brown allege Jawan Parker may have been killed over a drug debt.

Phillip Crooms was ordered held after Judge Lynn Leibovitz found probable cause to believe that Crooms was involved in lighting a fire that contributed to the death of Delonte Butler in Sept. 2010.

Rashad Terrell Slye was arrested on suspicion of killing Domingo Ezirike, a Maryland cab driver. According to charging documents, Ezirike may have been shot over a shorted 75 cents.

Claude Kinney pleaded guilty to first degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Alicia Wheeler, his estranged wife.

Vincent Gray and Delron Atchison were arrested in Orlando. Police believe they shot and killed Demetrius Thompson aboard the W4 Metro bus last week.

Rodney McIntyre was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the sexual assault and murder of his 17-year-old daughter Ebony Franklin, whose body was found in a trash can in Columbia Heights after Thanksgiving weekend last November.

Montez Warren was arrested in the May 13 shooting death of Ervin Lamont Griffin.

Below is a map of homicides this week.

In brief:

DC’s deadliest week this year: Nine people were killed in the District in the past week, bringing the total number of homicides this year to 96. Arrests have been made in three of the cases.

• A shooting late Saturday night in Southeast DC killed 21 year-old Davon Paul Gray. Antonio Jones, a 19-year-old Maryland man was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the case.
• A stabbing in Northeast DC Sunday night killed 31-year-old Jawan Parker. Tarkeyshia R. Brown was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder while armed in connection with the case.
• 25-year-old Antonio Headspeth was found shot to death in Southeast DC early Monday morning.
• Eric Kearney, 22, was shot to death in Northeast DC Monday evening. Kearney was the brother of Kwan Kearney, who is awaiting trial in two murder cases. One of those trials has been delayed because of Eric Kearney’s death.
• Mohammed Muktar Abduselam, 37, was shot and killed during a robbery at the gas station where he worked Monday evening.
• Demetrius Thompson was killed in a shooting on a Metro bus in Southeast DC early Thursday morning. MPD released surveillance video showing two men boarding the bus; MPD would like to speak with those men.
• Jodie Ward was found dead in Southeast DC late Thursday night; police initially said he was the victim of a stabbing but have since said that the cause of death has not been determined. Felicia Jones was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed, but the charge has since been reduced to assault with intent to kill.
• A Maryland cab driver was killed in a shooting in Northeast DC, about a half mile from the Maryland border, early Saturday morning. He has not yet been identified.
• A man was fatally shot near Howard University late Saturday night. He has not yet been identified.

Derek Johnson was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in the shooting death of Jamar Freeman. Johnson, 17, is charged as an adult.

Christian Navarette-Rivas, 16, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in the death of Miguel Angel Drullard Jr, who was killed in what police believe was an intentional hit-and-run collision.

Jekwan Dante Smith was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder while armed in connection with the fatal shooting of Isaiah Sheffield.

Oma Crawford was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the shooting death of Ralph Thomas, manager of the semi-profesional football team the DC Falcons.

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For upcoming court appearances please see our Week Ahead.

In brief:

Only two defendants remain in the Latisha Frazier murder case after Laurence Hassan pleaded guilty to killing the 18-year-old DC woman in a beating August last year. Six people were arrested in connection with the case last winter.

Karl Pugh was ordred held after Judge Motley found probable cause that he commited second degree murder when Quentin Ragland was fatally shot in a PCP-fueled tussle.
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In brief:

DC is on track to have fewer homicides than last year.

Ricardo Mitchell was ordered held on substantial probability that he killed Wyatt Earp Robinson outside a Minnesota Avenue seafood shop this summer.

Honduran President Porfirio Lobo looked at DC’s homicide record this week while on a visit to the United States. Lobo asked his national security cabinet to look at how DC has lowered the number of reported murders from over 500 yearly to around 100 yearly.

Miguel Angel Drullard Jr. was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Petworth; police said he was intentionally struck and the case is a homicide.

Donald McCorkle was held pending a preliminary hearing on suspicion of second-degree murder in the death of Bruce Parker. McCorkle’s attorney said the slaying might have been in self-defense.

A juvenile died after being found stabbed in Petworth. The victim has not yet been identified by police.

In brief:

Friends and family of Gaurav Gopalan as well as politicians and LGBT community activists gathered in Dupont Circle for a candlelight vigil in memory of Gopalan, who was killed in Columbia Heights.

Corey Yates pleaded innocent to a charge of first-degree murder while armed in connection with the death of Darrel Hendy in Sept. 2010.

Substantial probability was found in the case against Anthony Hatton, who is suspected of gunning down teen Tyrell Fogle in Northeast DC in August.

Terrell Brent was ordered released from custody following a preliminary hearing on a charge that he fatally shot his friend, Lugus Fleming, in a game of Russian Roulette. Brent is expected back in court Dec. 12 for a felony status conference in the voluntary manslaughter case.

Three preliminary hearings were postponed: Claude Kinney, suspected in the stabbing death of his wife, Alecia Wheeler, was rescheduled for Oct. 18. Stephanie Lawson, suspected in the fatal stabbing of Karen Jordan, was rescheduled for Oct. 6. Karl Pugh, suspected in the shooting death of Quentin Ragland, was rescheduled for Oct. 14.

The defense attorney for Robert Carter, accused of killing Angel Morse and holding others hostage in the home following the fatal shooting, has filed paperwork with the court saying that he intends to pursue an insanity defense on behalf of Carter.

The death of Patrick Casey, an Army veteran and George Washington University grad student, is a homicide, police said, but it may not be prosecuted as a murder.

A shooting in Northeast DC killed 25-year-old Carlows Michael Eady early Saturday morning.

Albrecht Muth‘s claims to military service are false, according to court documents filed Friday and reported by the Washington Post. Muth is suspected of killing his wife, Viola Drath, at their Georgetown home.

In brief:

Reginald Vance and Derrell Bennett pleaded innocent to charges that they shot and killed Keith Banks in Nov. 2010.

An annual report by the FBI showed the use of firearms in murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in the District to be slightly higher than the national average.

A memorial for Myles “LaShay” McLean, who was killed in July, was burned, WAMU reported.

Judge Karen Howze ruled that a fatal game of Russian Roulette, which killed twenty-year-old Lugus Fleming on Friday night, could not be a crime of second-degree murder because the teen believed to have fired the fatal shot, Terrell Rashad Brent, thought that the gun was empty.

Neighbors of slain Trinidad woman Alecia Wheeler gathered for a vigil in her memory, focusing on the impacts of domestic violence in the community and what can be done to halt it.

Gaurav Gopalan, who was found dead in Columbia Heights earlier this month and was identified at the time as a transgender woman, is believed to have been killed in a homicide, after a medical examiner’s report attributed his death to violent injuries.

Davon Holmes was ordered held on probable cause that he fatally stabbed Marcellus Bailey in August.

Quentin Joavor Ragland was killed in Southeast D.C. and Karl Pugh was ordered held on suspicion of second-degree murder in connection with the case.

Larnell Allen, one of the two men charged in the shooting death of teen Joseph Alonzo Sharps Jr, is not standing trial in the case as scheduled in October. Co-defendant Kwan Kearney‘s trial date of Oct. 31 remains.

Nineteen-year-old Jeffrey Britt was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the shooting death of George Rawlings after the funeral of a mutual friend.

Terrance Brooks was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of Zachery Funke, despite regret from Judge Thomas Motley that he could not impose a longer sentence on Brooks due to the plea agreement.

Isaiah Sheffield of Northeast D.C. was killed in a shooting Saturday afternoon in the 1100 block of 21st Street NE.

In brief:
Alecia Wheeler, a 42-year-old Northeast D.C. woman, was fatally stabbed in Trinidad in front of her children. Wheeler’s husband, Claude Kinney, was arrested in connection with the case and ordered held pending a preliminary hearing.

MPD took over a homicide investigation from Prince George’s County, when it was determined that murder victim Antwain Henderson was killed in D.C. before his body was found in a burning car in Prince George’s County.

Twenty-year-old Lugus Fleming of Northeast D.C. was killed in a shooting Friday night in Northeast D.C. Terrell Rashad Brent, 19, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder in connection with the case.

Kevin Clark and Donald Crosland pleaded guilty to charges that they shot and killed 17-year-old Ricardo Minger in a Southeast D.C. apartment in January.

Jerome Bailey pleaded guilty today to second-degree murder in the shooting death of Rico Matthews, whom Bailey believed was having a relationship with a woman that he also saw.

Derrell Bennett and Reginald Vance were indicted each on a charge of first-degree murder while armed in connection with the shooting death of Keith Banks in Nov. 2010.

In brief:

In crime news:

A transgender woman was found unconscious in Columbia Heights and later died; MPD has said her death may be a homicide but are awaiting an official determination from the Medical Examiner’s office.

In courts news:

Calvin Monroe pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder while armed in the shooting death of 27-year-old Lonnie Whitted, who was killed in the 1900 block of 18th Street SE on July 7.

Curtis Weeks and Aaron Andrews were each sentenced to forty years incarceration in the shooting death of Reggie Cook on September 25, 2009.

Terry Jimenez was ordered held on suspicion of second-degree murder in the death of Robert Foster Jr, who was killed in a shoot-out following the Caribbean Festival in Columbia Heights in June.

Davon Holmes, a 28-year-old Northwest DC man, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the stabbing death of 24-year-old Marcellus Terrell Bailey on Aug. 3.

Albrecht Muth was ordered held on suspicion of second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Viola Drath, at their Georgetown home on Aug. 12.

Irving Harris Johnson of Northwest D.C. was arrested on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder while armed and one count of assault with intent to kill in connection with a triple shooting that killed Domonique Barber and Jimmie Lee Simmons III on July 9.

Rashid Caviness-Bey was ordered held on suspicion of felony murder in the death of Osman Al-Akbar in Columbia Heights on Aug. 17.

Each Sunday, Homicide Watch brings you a review of some of our top stories of the week.

In crime news:

A double shooting Sunday near Dunbar High School killed 21-year-old Dominic Dixon.

Seventeen-year-old Tyrell Fogle was shot to death in Northeast D.C. Monday night; eighteen-year-old Anthony Hatton was arrested and presented with a charge of first-degree murder while armed in connection with the case.

A woman found stabbed to death less than a mile from the White House on Aug. 8 was identified as Barbara Lloyd, a 56-year-old Baltimore woman.

In courts news:

Stephanie Lawson was presented with a charge of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Karen Jordan. Court records show Lawson had a court order to stay away from Jordan.

Brandon Andrews was ordered held on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the shooting death of Leonard Bigelow in Northeast DC.

Shawn Davis entered a plea of “not guilty” to one charge of first-degree murder while armed in the death of Southwest D.C. woman Tawanna Barnes Copeland.

Steven Cephas pleaded guilty to causing injuries and physical trauma to his girlfriend’s 20-month-old child, Dominic Dwayne Kingsbury Jr., who was in his care last November.

Bradley Allen, a 30-year-old man suspected of switching court identification bracelets with murder suspect James Brewer, was been added to Brewer’s case as a co-defendant. In the same case, prosecutors said this week that a potential witness was killed in Prince George’s County, Md. Finding probable cause, Judge Thomas Motley ordered all three murder defendants held.

In other news:

On WTOP’s “Ask the Chief” program, MPD Chief Cathy Lanier spoke about the Wyatt Earp Robinson case and allegations that an MPD officer witnessed the shooting and failed to take action.

Homicide Watch debuted our new site last Sunday, adding maps, sorting features, customized news feeds for victims and suspects, and more. A brief tour of some of the new features is on our “about” page.

Send your tips, thoughts and comments to Homicide Watch Editor Laura Amico at homicidewatchdc@gmail.com