The young men accused of murdering a District middle school principal last month met him on a sex chatline and targeted him for robbery, Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said.
Three 18-year-olds were involved in the killing of Brian Betts, police said.
Police believe at least one of the youths was invited to visit him the day he was killed following the chatline encounter. The teens planned a robbery that went awry once they were in his Silver Spring home, police said. The Shaw Middle School at Garnet-Patterson principal was found dead in his bedroom on April 15.
Two of the teens have been charged with murder: Sharif Tau Lancaster and Alante Saunders. The third had not yet been formally charged Monday evening.
Manger said Betts’ attackers met him through “what has been described as a sex chatline, a social networking chatline.” A police source with knowledge of the investigation said Betts was using Adam4Adam, a networking Web site for gay men, when he spoke to one of the three youths on April 14. Betts was last heard from around 11:30 that night.
Co-workers became concerned when he didn’t show up at work on April 15. A co-worker went to Betts’ house around 7:30 p.m. April 15 and found his door open and a light on. The co-worker called the police and they found Betts’ body fully clothed. They said he was killed by at least one bullet.
Last month, the Washington Examiner quoted Montgomery County police saying Betts’ “gay lifestyle” was considered a possible motive in his killing. Police apparently decided to reveal that information in hopes of generating clues. Other news media declined to publish that Betts was gay, with the exception of the Blade, a newspaper for the gay community. On Sunday, the Washington Post, in a story headlined “Mystery defies relentless scrutiny in D.C. principal’s slaying,” reported that Bett’s “active social life” was a possible factor in his death.
Police said they caught a break in the case on April 16, when 46-year-old Artura Otey Williams charged about $100 on Betts’ stolen credit card at a Giant food store in Silver Spring. Williams is the mother of Lancaster. Police said they spotted her on surveillance cameras at the Giant. Williams was arrested Monday after police executed a search warrant at her home at 5315 Fifth St. NW.
They caught another break when they found Lancaster’s fingerprints inside Betts’ house and Saunders’ inside Betts’ stolen sport utility vehicle. The SUV was found on April 17 in Southeast and a witness told police he saw two men abandon the vehicle a day earlier.
Authorities took two of the teens into custody while executing a search warrant on the 1300 block of Southview Drive in Oxon Hill. Police said they found Betts’ wallet and a receipt for Nike shoes he bought on April 15.
Washington Examiner Staff Writers Bill Myers and Alan Suderman contributed to this report.
