A 16-year-old Arlington boy was walking home alone the night of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday nearly 40 years ago when he was shot to death. James Dial’s killer fled the scene and still has not been brought to justice.
Rumors that the Ku Klux Klan was to blame circulated in the small, predominantly black community of Green Valley after the incident. Dial’s sister, Paula Bowie, said many people thought he’d been killed as an example in a time when there were plans to establish a national holiday commemorating the life of King, who had been assassinated less than three years earlier.
At around 10 p.m. on Jan. 15, 1971, James was walking home along S. Kenmore Street after leaving his girlfriend’s house when a car pulled over and the men inside began talking to him. As he was walking away, one of the men shot him in the back. James staggered onto a nearby porch and knocked on the home’s door. He was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.
“My brother just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Bowie said.
James, known to friends and family as Jay, was the only boy in a family of six kids. At the time of his death, he was a student at Wakefield High School. He was both an athlete and musician. He played football and basketball; he wrestled and drummed.
“He was a good brother,” Bowie said of her older sibling. “Everybody liked Jay.”
Later in 1971, Arlington police arrested a suspect in the case. He was let go for lack of evidence.
“I would like to know who did it and why was it done,” said Beatrice Phillips, James’ mother. “I don’t feel angry, I don’t hate the person for doing it. But [I want to know] why did he do it, because my son was a good child.”
Detective Kevin Norwood of the Arlington Police Cold Case Unit said his team still has faith that they will someday find James’ killer.
“We just hold out hope for that one telephone call that will come in an provide the information we want.”
Anyone with any information regarding the death of James Dial is asked to call Arlington police at 703-228-4130.
