Chapter 2, The Investigation
Rowland and Donna were taken to the Whitemarsh precinct where Stanley and I began to interrogate them. As normal procedure the two were split up and questioned separately.
The story they told was that Donna's mother was moving and needed a truck to haul her property. Rowland's friend Wesley worked at a car dealership and had access (he stole) to vehicles on the lot. Wesley would "rent" vehicles to friends on occasion. They said that Rowland gave them the mini-van the day before to help with the move. This information would put the vehicle in Wesley's control the night of the murder. They also gave us information on Wesley's girlfriend Juanita. We asked where we could find Wesley and was told that he lived on 20th Street in Baltimore city but did not know the address. They also stated that Wesley would pick up Juanita each night at 9:30pm on Mt. Royal Ave. as she got out of night school.
They remained under the belief that they were stopped only because of the stolen vehicle. We released them without charge because of their cooperation but did photograph them for identification purposes.
Wesley was known to operate a Dodge Shadow however he didn't have any vehicles listed to him through Motor Vehicles. His address on his driver's license was no longer accurate.
The following evening the career criminal squad along with other members of the homicide unit staked out the school on Mt. Royal Ave. Approx. 9:20pm Wesley pulled up in his Dodge Shadow and waited for Juanita. At 9:30pm Juanita got into the car and they began to pull away. At this time we conducted what has to be one of the most exhilarating things a cop can do. A "felony stop".
A true felony stop occurs when a suspect believed to be armed is pulled over by several police officers who use methodical steps to have each occupant of the car exit the vehicle separately while the officers remain behind cover, watching the other occupants. Eventually each is handcuffed face down on the pavement. This takes several minutes at times as safety is the issue and there is no reason to rush things.
What we did was a Hollywood style stop where we blocked the car and rushed to rip the occupants out of the car and onto the ground before they know what hit them. This leaves you with an incredible adrenaline rush which lasts for hours. This style is a little more dangerous but works well when you surprise your suspects and scare the hell out of them.
We took Wesley and Juanita into custody for the "stolen vehicle" charge and transported them to the homicide office. We interrogated them separately. We began with Wesley. Wesley freely admitted to taking the mini-van and dealer tag from the dealership. He agreed that he lent the vehicle to Rowland and Donna to help her mother move. He told us however that he gave them the vehicle 2 weeks ago, not the day before we found the vehicle as Rowland and Donna said. This, if true, put the vehicle back in the hands of Rowland and Donna the night of the murder.
I asked Wesley if he owned any guns which he said he didn't. I asked if Rowland had any guns and he said Rowland has a .32 caliber gun on a .45 frame. Asked what he meant by that he said the gun was "you know, an automatic". Juanita in her interview admitted that she smoked Newport cigarettes. She also said that Donna sold her a carton on Monday night, the night of the murder. Wesley and Juanita were at a friends house on Oswego Ave. Monday night watching Monday Night Football and Rowland and Donna showed up after the game and Donna had some cartons of Newports to sell. Asked what time they came to the house Wesley said Arsenio Hall was on the television. Wesley also said Rowland had the mini-van when he came by.
We later checked with WMAR channel 2 and learned the football game ended approx. 11:30pm and Arsenio was on approx. 11:40pm. This placed Rowland and Donna in the suspect vehicle approx. 1 hour after the murder and in possession of Newport cigarette cartons which were the same brand purchased with Valerie Brown's credit card shortly after her murder.
It seemed that we had the killers and let them go. They implicated their friends with a believable story and now their friends turned it back on them, this time with corroborating evidence. Of course now Rowland and Donna know we are going to be looking for them and they went into hiding.
To further better our case we conducted a photo-array in which you place the suspect's photograph in a folder with 5 other similar looking people to see if the witnesses can pick the suspect out. Sort of a line up with pictures. We used the photograph that we had taken of Donna at the Whitemarsh precinct the night of the initial contact. We showed this group of photos to the witnesses at the gas stations and the one witness who had best described the suspect buying the cigarettes, picked Donna's photograph out as the person buying the Newport cigarettes with Valerie Brown's credit card. Bingo!
It's now about two weeks after the murder. We have warrants for the arrest of Rowland and Donna for the murder of Valerie Brown. We had their names placed in the Crime Stoppers Program along with this information placed in a story in the Baltimore Sun.
A few days later we were on the 3-11pm shift and I came in early to check on a few things.
I received a phone call at the homicide office from a woman claiming to be the sister of Rowland. She said he and Donna were staying at her house in the Park Heights area of Baltimore city and she wanted them gone. She said they had came by a few days before and asked if they could stay for awhile. She at that time didn't know they were wanted. When she read it in the paper Rowland denied it and she initially believed him until she saw Donna reading the article on the murder. Donna asked Rowland, "It says she was shot in the head. Where was she shot?" She knew then they had done it.
As I had come in early my partner Stanley was not with me. I called in some guys from the daylight homicide squad and again borrowed the ever helpful career criminal unit.
The career criminal unit consists of 5-6 undercover detectives which are primarily responsible for tracking down repeat offenders and arresting them. Because they are plain clothed, long hair, and driving non-descript cars, we used them quite often when hitting a house on a search warrant or looking for our suspects.
We met with some uniformed city police officers a few blocks from the house. Since we were going to raid a house in their jurisdiction we notify them whenever possible.
We parked a few houses away and as I approached the house Rowland's sister was sitting on the porch. She walked out to greet me and whispered that Rowland and Donna were both upstairs. I asked if she saw any weapons and she said no.
A group of about 5 of us entered the house. Others stood guard out back and in front. We hid the best we could which wasn't very good at all. When we got to the stair case we shouted the usual police stuff to Rowland and Donna. The ol' come down the stairs with your hands in the air routine. Rowland came into view quickly, cooperated and came down the steps where he was arrested. He was unarmed. Donna wasn't so quick to cooperate. She refused to show herself so we had to go up the stairs and search for her. We found her hiding in a bedroom also unarmed. We search the home with the consent of the owner but the murder weapon wasn't found.
Rowland and Donna were charged with the murder of Valerie Brown. They were read their Miranda Rights and refused to be questioned.
Next Chapter - The Trial
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