Detective Larry Haley was the lead investigator in the January slaying of 15-year-old Dennys Guzman-Saenz, who authorities say was kidnapped in Hyattsville and brought to Gaithersburg, where he was stabbed to death and left in a creek bed.
After a four-month investigation, police arrested 10 suspects, all alleged members of a gang with connections to drug cartels in Mexico and Colombia. Haley, a Montgomery County native and University of Maryland graduate, has been with the Montgomery County Police Department since 2002.
What broke the Guzman-Saenz case?
We received a tip that someone had been bragging about doing the killing. The person wasn’t able to give a name, only a nickname, but from there we were able to figure out who [the suspect] was, and we were able to arrest him for a separate offense. He confessed, and the case basically broke open from there.
Are tips like that one usually helpful?
They’re key. We’re not mind-readers, and we have to get information from somebody. In a case like this, with stranger-on-stranger violence, it’s crucial. We would not have found the person without that tip.
What’s it like being a homicide detective in Montgomery County?
The homicides in Montgomery County tend to be more complex — we don’t have a lot of drive-by shootings and things like that. Ours tend to be planned out much more.
Because we have fewer homicides than other jurisdictions, it allows us to really work our cases to the max.
When we get a case here, we’re given the freedom to work it until we can’t anymore. You get one and stay on it until there’s nothing else you can do.
How did you get into law enforcement?
I started a lot later than other people. I didn’t think about becoming a police officer until I was 24 or 25. I had been managing a restaurant around the University of Maryland, and one of guys I met there was a P.G. County officer.
He talked me into a riding along with him. After that, I was sold. Experiencing the things he did firsthand, especially where he worked, gave me a new perspective on the job.
