GUILTY VA - Lenny Harris, 53, robbed & murdered, Alexandria, 21 Sept 2011

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I'm trying to find the presser on line. Maybe Fox will carry it. I'm not having any luck with ABC7.
 
Prince George's County Police say a man who was found in a well last week died of a gunshot wound.

~snip~

The case stands as a death investigation Saturday, that has now become the first of its kind in the region.

Julie Parker, Prince George's County Public Information Officer, "No one in the DC area in recent memory can think of a time when they've had to do a recovery from a well. Prince George's County Police are creating a case study of how to remove a body from a well."
Click to expand...

http://wusa9.com/news/article/187540/373/Death-Of-Lenny-Harris-Considered-A-Homicide
 
SurfieTX said:
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/0...ot-wound-killed-community-activist-72027.html
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Terrible reporting on this case. The above msm article indicates Lenny was identified Thursday. Common sense tells us an official ID couldn't have been made while the man had not yet been recovered from the well.

OK, so the media is telling us nothing more than the COD was a gunshot wound. Does this man not deserve more than an updated sentence?

Hoping the LE links have some sort of written information. Because the media is doing a terrible job on behalf of this man who gave so much of himself.
 
Rest in peace lovely man. My heart is broken. :cry:

May justice be served for Lenny now.

To all that have been touched by Lenny.... please do something for your community in his honor. He was an advocate for the children, especially for making sure underprivileged children had access to tutors, but really he was an advocate for all that didn't have what they needed. It would be so lovely to see others reaching out to help in their own community. Because I would think that's what Lenny would want...

<3
 
Finally an article with a little more information from this mornings presser.

<snip>

Homicide detectives have not determined exactly when and where Lenwood “Lenny” Harris, 53, was slain, though they believe he was shot and killed soon after he went missing in September, Prince George’s County Police Chief Mark Magaw said at a news conference Monday.

<snip>


Magaw said Monday that the medical examiner attributed the cause of death to a gunshot, and that Harris’s body had been in the well “an extended period of time.”

<snip>

On Monday, Magaw said investigators were working to identify the 911 caller and pursue other leads. He said whoever dumped Harris down the well “obviously knows the area,” because it is secluded and the home on the property has been vacant since 1996.


Prince George’s County homicide detectives are working jointly with Alexandria police to investigate the case.


<snip>

A reward of up to $38,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case, said Prince George’s County police spokeswoman Julie Parker. Those with information are asked to call the Prince George’s Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 301-772-4925.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ped-down-well/2012/01/30/gIQAAAtgcQ_blog.html
 
Hopefully now that a reward of up to 38,000 dollars is being offered that will be incentive for the anonymous tipster to contact LE again and give them any additional information they might have to help LE solve this case.
 
A reward of up to $38,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case, said Prince George&#8217;s County police spokeswoman Julie Parker.

Those with information are asked to call the Prince George&#8217;s Police Department&#8217;s Homicide Unit at 301-772-4925.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...tgcQ_blog.html


Shame on the other media outlets who couldn't be bothered to add the above pertinent information about Mr. Harris's case. :furious: I'm afraid if I said what I really think about that I'd be timed out. Let's just say I am steamed this man was murdered and only one media outlet is reporting information on an almost 40,000 dollar reward for information leading to an arrest and a conviction in his case.
 
Also from the link Belimom posted above:

Private donors at Virginia Commerce Bank have set up a reward fund. PG Police Media Relations Director Julie Parker noted that between the private fund and PG County crime solvers monies, the current reward is $38,000 for any information leading to an arrest and conviction in the Lenny Harris case.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the fund can go to any Virginia Commerce Bank branch and make a donation. St. Elmo's Coffee Shop, located at 2300 Mount Vernon Ave. in Alexandria, also accepts donations for the fund.

 
Here's an interesting piece with some more details about Lenny's life:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ounty/2012/01/30/gIQAJG5scQ_blog.html?hpid=z3

In the article, it talks about his neighborhood and how it changed in the past decade or so. I was there. I was one of those who moved into Lenny's neighborhood b/c it was so 'working class' and normal - reminding me of my own small hometown I grew up in. However, as Lenny told the reporter, young middle-class families and wealthy people started moving in, and wanting the shops that had been around for ages shut down and replaced with more antique stores and upscale boutiques. He was spot on. Absolutely. It did become more "gentrified". We sold our home a couple of years ago, and when we go back through that neighborhood, we notice so many changes. I wish there were more people like him to stand up for not just the HUD housing folks but also regular ol' people.

What a crying shame something like this had to happen to a man willing to stand up to The System and the machine of politics/money. May God bless you, Lenny.
 
This is what worries me so... :(

bbm

Who Killed Lenny Harris?

............

For now, police say they don&#8217;t have any answers. A spokesman for the Prince George&#8217;s County police department said that the medical examiner&#8217;s office has determined that Harris died of a gunshot wound, but it&#8217;s unclear if he died before or after being placed in the well. It&#8217;s also unclear if he was shot at a different location and taken to the well or shot at the well.

http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=357379&paper=59&cat=104
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I know I've posted several in a row, but now I'm stuck on something: do people really go through this much trouble in a random robbery? I don't think so. I think it was planned out ahead of time - with the well picked out. If it were just a random robbery, I believe more trails would have been left behind than actually were. And I don't believe someone would have gone through the trouble of hiding a body in a well like that. Just thinking about loud here. What are you guys thinking?
 
belimom said:
I know I've posted several in a row, but now I'm stuck on something: do people really go through this much trouble in a random robbery? I don't think so. I think it was planned out ahead of time - with the well picked out. If it were just a random robbery, I believe more trails would have been left behind than actually were. And I don't believe someone would have gone through the trouble of hiding a body in a well like that. Just thinking about loud here. What are you guys thinking?
Click to expand...

I agree, Belimom. I think Lenny knew his assailant(s) and probably went to meet them / allowed them into his car. Alexandria is super safe; random car-jacking / homicides are pretty much non-existent.
 
SeaEclipse said:
I agree, Belimom. I think Lenny knew his assailant(s) and probably went to meet them / allowed them into his car. Alexandria is super safe; random car-jacking / homicides are pretty much non-existent.
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bbm

I agree. I've lived here about 15 yrs and I can only think of three murders off the top of my head (aside from the Beltway Sniper): Kevin Shifflett, an 8-yr-old boy stabbed to death by Greg Murphy (random stranger walking by) while playing in the front yard; David Murphy, the brother of Greg Murphy, who was shot to death while working under his car. Killer still at large and presumed to be tied to anger b/c of his brother murdering Kevin; and Nancy Dunning, the sheriff's wife. There are more, but those always come to mind.

Usually very safe --- I know a few low-income families who have escaped the crime in DC and moved their families to Alexandria.

http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/articleprint.asp?article=315941&paper=59&cat=104

Nancy Dunning (sherriff's wife) found murdered in her home (2003) - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
 
belimom said:
I know I've posted several in a row, but now I'm stuck on something: do people really go through this much trouble in a random robbery? I don't think so. I think it was planned out ahead of time - with the well picked out. If it were just a random robbery, I believe more trails would have been left behind than actually were. And I don't believe someone would have gone through the trouble of hiding a body in a well like that. Just thinking about loud here. What are you guys thinking?
Click to expand...


I don't know the area but some things are on the hinky meter.

-The Washington post article you linked earlier indicating how the older local businesses were trying to get 'pushed out' so to speak.

-What appears to be a very long delay, imo, about the almost 40,000 reward. (3 hours after the presser for the first media outlet to report it, at least another hour for others to pick it up).

-Why would someone randomly target a person driving a 1994 vehicle?


Not sure if it was someone targeting Lenny due to his involvement in the community? (Money and prime business locations might make people do strange things).

Or, if someone who is an ex con robbed Lenny.

Then I go back to his community involvement and wonder if the perp ditched the wallet, cell phone and car where they did to stage this to look like a random robbery. Could those locations have been staged and the motive more nefarious reasons?

Lenny was a big man. Over 6' and well over 200 lbs. It wouldn't have been easy to get him in that well. (Unless he was blindfolded and led to walk into the well unknowingly, which I think may have left marks on his body indicating so.)

Whoever put him there had some ties to the property. Former renters? Squatters? A home being vacant since 1996 (according to one of the MSM reports posted upthread) is a very long time for a house to be vacant. The RE market was still yet to really boom back in 96. Why did this house sit vacant during the entire upswing of the RE market before it crashed? Was it ever a drug house?

Additionally, a huge gap between the presser and the time the media posted any more than a single sentence about the cause of death. I can only explain that not being hinky if the reward information was not given at the presser. I wasn't there so I don't know..... Maybe the donations for the reward came in after the presser?

Obviously someone has a conscience who called in the tip. Because it was an anonymous tip, it's fair to assume this information wasn't offered up as a means to make a deal for another arrest of sometype.

A lot of unknowns and a lot of possibilities here.
 
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