In Brief:
- A 15-year-old girl accused of killing 18-year-old Anacostia High School student Garey Gordon pleaded “involved” to involuntary manslaughter charges in the case, HWDC learned this week. The plea is the equivalent to a guilty plea in adult courts.
- Body parts found in New York earlier in the month were identified as belonging to Jessica Taylor, a woman who was 20-years-old when she was reported missing from DC in 2003. Her torso was found that same year and identified as hers.
- Jermaine Anderson, a 19-year-old NE DC man, was shot Sunday and died of his injuries. He was shot at about 1 a.m. in the 1800 block of Central Place NE.
- Robert Givens, 18, pleaded innocent this week to charges that he shot and killed 19 year-old Sean Robinson in Adams Morgan in August. He was indicted on a charge of first degree murder in the case.
- Vernon McRae was sentenced last week to five years in prison for the involuntary manslaughter of his stepfather, Michael Washington, during a drunken argument in October, Homicide Watch D.C. learned this week.
- Moeconi Crutchfield, a 30-year-old Southeast D.C. man was shot and killed Wednesday night behind a pizza joint in the 2400 block of Minnesota Ave., SE.
- D.C. police officially classified the 1999 death of Joyce Chiang, an Immigration and Naturalization Service lawyer, as a homicide. However, police said they did not have enough evidence to prosecute anyone in the case, and D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the case was considered closed.
Last night WUSA 9 posted a short article about the D.C. cold case squad that identified suspects in Joyce Chiang‘s murder, and reports that the squad is ramping up efforts:
The announcement Friday that two suspects have now been identified in the 1999 murder of Joyce Chiang marked the 8th time this year in Washington that a cold case has been solved.
At this rate, DC police will solve, or close, nearly two dozen cold case murders in 2011, twice the number that was closed just four years ago.
…
[Police Chief Cathy Lanier is] hoping to close as many as 30 cold cases this year and, to that end, she’s placing an even greater emphasis on investigating older murders. To help in the effort, the U.S. attorney’s office will now dedicate a full-time prosecutor to the DC Police cold case squad.
Judge Gerald Fisher gave the government another three months to issue an indictment today in its case against Shawn Davis, who is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing of Tawanna Barnes Copeland.
Copeland, a 41-year-old Georgetown University Hospital employee, was killed in her Southwest D.C. apartment on Dec. 7, 2010. Davis is Copeland’s ex-boyfriend.
Davis appeared in Judge Fisher’s courtroom this morning for a felony status conference represented by defense attorney Lawrence Kupers. He did not express emotion at the hearing but fidgeted with the chain links of his shackle.
At the hearing, prosecutor Chris Kavanaugh said that the case against Davis was strong but complicated, and asked for an additional 90 days to issue an indictment. Kupers argued that the case against Davis was weak, and said that there were no witnesses in Copeland’s death and Davis was working at the time.
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D.C. police have officially classified the death of Joyce Chiang, an Immigration and Naturalization Service lawyer, as a homicide. However, at a press conference announcing the development today, police said they did not have enough evidence to prosecute anyone in the case, and D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the case was considered closed.
Chiang, who was 28 years old when she died, went missing in January of 1999. Her body was found on the banks of the Potomac River several months later. Police initially believed her death was a suicide.
The Associated Press via the Washington Post reported that a government official said police had identified two suspects in the case who had already been convicted for several robberies and abductions the year of Chiang’s death. One is serving a life sentence in Maryland and the other was deported to Guyana.
Lanier declined to name any suspects at the press conference.
According to the Associated Press, Roger Chiang, Joyce’s brother, spoke at the press conference about his sister’s case:
[Chiang] thanked D.C. police for aggressively investigating the case the past few years and especially for classifying the death as a homicide. Roger Chiang said he and other family members were outraged in 2001 when then-Assistant Police Chief Terry Gainer said he believed Joyce Chiang had committed suicide.
Police work that led the classification of his sister’s death as a homicide “restored her honor,” Roger Chiang said.
John Walsh, the host of “America’s Most Wanted,” also spoke about the case:
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Following are scheduled court appearances for murder cases. This information is current as of Wednesday, May 11 at 3 p.m. and will be re-verified throughout the week. Please remember that court dates can change, even at the last minute. To view the docket of a case please go to the D.C. Courts website and search by the defendant’s name. To add an item to the calendar, email homicidewatchdc [at] gmail.com.
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A little over two weeks ago we launched an effort to “help pay Karen” while I’m out of town for 12 days at a conference. Thanks to the many of you who stepped forward and did just that!
Your contributions raised $325, meaning that we’ll be able to pay Karen $500 for her time, efforts and talent. Because of your generosity, we also have $75 to put into our “spot news” freelancers fund.
Thank you for your support, financial and otherwise. Without it Homicide Watch could not exist.
Karen starts this morning and I, for one, am looking forward to her reports.
Best,
Laura Amico
MPD Chief Cathy Lanier is expected to make an announcement tomorrow about a homicide case that’s been cold for more than a decade.
AP (via WaPo), WJLA, WUSA, City Paper and Fox5 all have the story.
According to those reports, three suspects have been identified in the slaying of Joyce Chiang, a lawyer for the Immigration and Naturalization Service who was 28 years old when she died.
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The victim of a fatal shooting behind a pizza joint in Southeast D.C. Wednesday night has been identified by authorities as 30-year-old Moeconi Crutchfield of Southeast D.C.
MPD’s press release is below.
Homicide: Rear of the 2400 Block of Minnesota Ave, SE
(Washington, DC)-Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch are investigating a fatal shooting which occurred in the 2400 block of Minnesota Ave., SE.
On Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at approximately 9:45 pm units from the Sixth District responded to the rear of the 2400 block of Minnesota Ave., SE. Upon their arrival they found an adult male victim suffering from gunshot wounds. Personnel from DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services transported the victim to a local hospital where he was subsequently pronounced dead.
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The Washington Blade has a story on Gordon Rivers shooting death in Southeast DC in January 2010.
Says the Blade,
The United States Attorney’s office this week reversed an earlier decision to seal court records showing the outcome of its case against two young men charged with first-degree murder while armed for the January 2010 shooting death of gay Maryland resident Gordon Rivers in Southeast Washington.
At the request of the U.S. Attorney’s office, a D.C. Superior Court judge on Wednesday unsealed records showing that District resident William X. Wren, 18, had been sentenced on Jan. 26 to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to shooting Rivers five times at point-blank range inside Rivers’ car during a botched robbery.
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A man found shot Wednesday night behind Mario’s Pizza House on Minnesota Avenue in Southeast D.C. died of his injuries after being taken to the hospital, the Washington Post reports.
Police responded to the scene at about 9:30 p.m., the Post reported. DC Fire and EMS tweeted just after 10 p.m. that they were at the scene of a shooting very close by at 1500 25th St SE.
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