The call came in from Virginia.
Barry Roberts, a man wanted in the Oct. 12 slaying of 18-year-old Darius Bruton in Baltimore, had been arrested during a routine background check while buying a gun in Norfolk.
Baltimore homicide detectives got their man and closed the case.
But the arrest of Roberts was the only one of October’s 20 homicides investigators closed during the month — underscoring the department’s low closure rate which has frustrated Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld and community leaders this year.
Of 2008’s 186 homicides, 57 — about 30.6 percent — have been closed. Police have also solved 25 cases from previous years, giving the homicide unit a closure rate of 44.1 percent, nearly 20 percentage points below the national average.
No one knows the pain of an unsolved murder like the family of the victims. Annette Harris, the wife of former Baltimore City Councilman Ken Harris, said as painful as her husband’s death has been on her family, the fact the Sept. 20 killing remains unsolved heightens the pain.
“We must continue to speak out against murder and root out the murderers who are plaguing our neighborhoods,” she wrote in a letter to the Baltimore City Council public safety subcommittee. “Murders must not be the norm in Baltimore.”
Bealefeld defends closure rate
At a hearing before the subcommittee Wednesday evening — called by Councilwoman Helen Holton, who said she noticed a “lack of urgency” in solving homicides — Bealefeld defended the department’s procedures for closing cases. He said his 48 homicide detectives are sometimes forced to carry workloads much higher than the national average of three cases per year.
“They have a pretty substantial workload, outside the national average,” he said. “… The workload notwithstanding, we have a reputation of having some of the finest detectives in the country.”
But Bealefeld said the workload is decreasing thanks to a 30 percent reduction in homicides. This time last year, the city had 254 homicides — 68 more than this year.
He called the drop in murders a “historic achievement,” but said, “We still have much, much further to go.”
Two witnesses cooperate
It was 12:48 a.m. when police found Bruton lying on the 4300 block of Davis Avenue in the Irvington neighborhood of Southwest Baltimore.
Casings from a 9 mm handgun were scattered near the teen, who was bleeding from a shot to his head.
As police investigated the crime, officers found two witnesses — whose identities are being protected — who cooperated with detectives. One told officers that Roberts and Bruton got involved in a “minor altercation” after which Roberts pulled out a handgun and shot the teen in the head. The other witness told police Roberts “bragged” about the shooting after the incident.
The arrest of Roberts — who has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Dec. 4 — also emphasizes the importance of police finding witnesses who will cooperate, police say.
‘Give me the suspect’
At Wednesday’s hearing, Bealefeld, along with City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, pleaded with witnesses to come forward — particularly in Harris’ killing.
“Drop a letter in a mailbox,” Rawlings-Blake urged. “You don’t have to put your name on it. You don’t have to trust Commissioner Bealefeld. … You don’t have to like him. But you have to value life enough to get in touch with someone to make a difference.”
Bealefeld said that even with forensic evidence, such as DNA, it often still takes witnesses to close a case.
“In a lot of these cases, we do have forensic evidence,” he said. “… In the tragic death of former Councilman Ken Harris, we have forensic evidence that could close this case tonight. Give me the suspect. Tell me what rock to look under to find that person. We have the evidence we need. We have that evidence in a large number of cases.”
October homicides
Oct. 2: Modesto Smith, 21, 700 block of Allegany Place
Oct. 4: William Haskins, 32, 1800 block of Penrose Avenue
Oct. 6: Clayton Oxendine, 24, 300 block of South Fulton Avenue
Oct. 6: Darrell Gulliver, 500 block of South Catherine Street
Oct. 6: Craig Colvin, 23, 3100 block of Virginia Avenue
Oct. 12: Justin Berry, 19, Pennsylvania and Lafayette avenues
Oct. 12: Howard Grant, 18, Pennsylvania and Lafayette avenues
Oct. 12: Darius Bruton, 18, 4300 block of Davis Avenue*
Oct. 14: Rubin Nelson, 26, 1900 block of North Rosedale Street
Oct. 19: Delvon Butts, 15, 200 block of South Smallwood Street
Oct. 20: Carlton Tremain Bethea, 29, 500 block of West Preston Street
Oct. 21: Shawn Crosby, 17, 600 block of North Clinton Street
Oct. 21: Kenneth Ringgold, 34, 100 block of North Janney Street
Oct. 22: Dontay Monroe, 18, 1400 block of Exeter Hall Avenue
Oct. 22: Marshall Nelson, 23, 3500 block of Pelham Avenue
Oct. 23: Gregory Boston, 48, 2700 block of Oswego Avenue
Oct. 25: Jason Betts, 25, 2400 block of Loyola Southway
Oct. 25: Derrick Phillips, 42, 1800 block of North Regester Avenue
Oct. 29: Mark Vines, 22, 600 block of McKewin Avenue
Oct. 31: Harley Johnson, 27, 2200 block of Echodale Avenue
*Case closed by Detective Gregory Boris
Source: Baltimore Police Department
For more about the homicide closures, from those in the trenches, read Luke’s related story here.
