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

[Just-a-Guy]

I was discussing it with DH, and he asked why you would even attempt to use someone's ATM if you didn't have their PIN. I re-read the news releases, and the wording says that the person of interest used the card.

If it was just an attempt, I think this person more than likely found the card (or wallet) discarded someplace.

If they succeeded, then I take back my thoughts about this person not being involved.

MOO

That thought occurred to me, too. My initial thinking is, when they said "used" they probably meant had it and put it in an ATM machine, but didn't succeed. I realize that's a bit odd. But stranger things have happened, and a calculated killer, who used a cell phone to attract his victim to a location, would not likely be so stupid as to walk up to an ATM (all of which have obvious secams) with the victim's credit card.

 

[belimom]

So I've figured out what ATM it is: it's right by the Court House, which is an odd ATM to choose if you were involved in a serious crime a few hours earlier... unless Lenny was forced to give them his PIN. Otherwise, I think this guy just found the ATM/wallet. There are so many ATMs all around - why that one? And why on King Street? It is THE tourist 'strip' in Old Town and even at that hour, it would be risky if you had done something more than just find someone's wallet.

This are just my own thoughts, thinking out loud here.

(I do feel odd posting this since LE has not given the location - it was just bugging me, but being very familiar with King Street, I just had to figure it out)

 

[Cubby]

I don't recall seeing in any of the media articles, has Lenny's vehicle been recovered?

Was it usual for Lenny not to mention who he was going to see?


Praying Lenny is safe somewhere.

 

[belimom]

I don't recall seeing in any of the media articles, has Lenny's vehicle been recovered?

Was it usual for Lenny not to mention who he was going to see?


Praying Lenny is safe somewhere.

Cubby, I don't think it's been recovered. However, I did read that his tag was scanned as having gone over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which goes from Alexandria over the Potomac River, into Maryland. That's the same bridge that his cell phone was found on. This was mentioned on another type of board/forum, by I suppose a family friend, so I do not know if it should be treated as a rumor or not...?

Here's the link (3rd post):
http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/58426692/ShowThread.aspx?MsdVisit=1

 

[Cubby]

thank you belimom. It would be interesting to know where his wallet was recovered. Is it just me, or is it a little weird that his cell phone was found on or very near a bridge and his credit card was used at an ATM closest to the court house? Bridge/courthouse, of all the places. It's given me a very tiny reason to wonder if he left willingly? Maybe frustrated with how things were going in the community and his activist efforts? He was at a neighborhood meeting the evening he went missing correct? Anything particularly frustrating or eventful about that meeting which was possibly different from others?

Thinking along the lines of meeting someone and getting a call later in the evening. 9pm isn't exactly early so if he wasn't expecting the call, I'd imagine it to be an emergency type thing. If he didn't know the caller, I assume the caller was refered to Lenny by a mutual acquaintance.

And the cell phone being tracked. If this was a disposable phone how does tracking work? When the phone number is assigned is there some kind of record kept as to what store and when the number was assigned?

Just not sure what to think on this case, but have been thinking about it often. In fact, I thought about Lenny this morning while I was driving my son to school and wondering and hoping he is ok. He looks like such a nice man. And he has a look of familiarity, but I can't place it. It wouldn't be local for me being from the Chgo area. I can't say if he looks like someone in professional sports, or an actor?

I do pray Lenny is found safe and soon. I wish his case was getting a lot more attention. It's an interesting case and I'd really like to find out what happened to him.

 

[belimom]

Here's a generic map I put together - I'm not good at the dynamic maps, just the screen shots (for prospect, it's about 1/2 mile from CH to ATM):

CH: Charles Houston Rec Ctr (where he was last seen, 9:00pm, 9/21)
ATM: ATM card used, 1:00am, 9/22
PHONE: found on Woodrow Wilson bridge
Car: ? - also seen going across the bridge?

 

[Soulmagent]

Lennys wife tracked the last phone call to king street and in the photo the POI has a phone in his hand . Is that Lennys phone I wonder?

He is holding the phone as if he had just used it.

 

[belimom]

Lennys wife tracked the last phone call to king street and in the photo the POI has a phone in his hand . Is that Lennys phone I wonder?

He is holding the phone as if he had just used it.

I hadn't seen that she had tracked it to King Street, but in the news video posted upthread, it's reported that she used her computer to track the phone to Woodrow Wilson Bridge (and it was later found there).

 

[Cubby]

Is that a phone in the POI's hand? It looks like he has something in his hand but I can't make out what it is.

Ok, I had forgotten which street Lenny's wife last tracked the cell phone. If the cell was tracked to King, and the ATM was used on King, I am hoping LE is looking at other survellience from that immediate area to see if they can locate Lenny's car on survellience to see if someone else was driving, or someone was in the car with him.

If Lenny was to meet someone and ran into random trouble enroute to his intended destination, I would think the person expecting him would have called back trying to find out where Lenny was and hadn't made it. I hope LE has checked Lenny's phone records for all calls after the 9pm call.

 

[belimom]

Is that a phone in the POI's hand? It looks like he has something in his hand but I can't make out what it is.

Ok, I had forgotten which street Lenny's wife last tracked the cell phone. If the cell was tracked to King, and the ATM was used on King, I am hoping LE is looking at other survellience from that immediate area to see if they can locate Lenny's car on survellience to see if someone else was driving, or someone was in the car with him.

If Lenny was to meet someone and ran into random trouble enroute to his intended destination, I would think the person expecting him would have called back trying to find out where Lenny was and hadn't made it. I hope LE has checked Lenny's phone records for all calls after the 9pm call.

bbm

Excellent point... I also think if he was just going to walk away from his life or take a break, he wouldn't have abruptly left a meeting after a phone call. IMO, he would have just driven off after the meeting. Leaving a meeting - after getting a phone call and telling someone you have to go meet someone else - had to have caused somewhat of a scene, however small. If you want to just slip off into the night, it doesn't make sense to me to do it that way.

 

[everyoneneedsavoice]

Thanks for all the posts w/ and about the pic of the person using the credit card. I was posting from my phone and couldn't include the pics.

I just tried blowing up the photo to see if I could see what the tattoo says, but could not make out anything at all.

So happy The Washington Post picked it up!

 

[Cubby]

bbm

Excellent point... I also think if he was just going to walk away from his life or take a break, he wouldn't have abruptly left a meeting after a phone call. IMO, he would have just driven off after the meeting. Leaving a meeting - after getting a phone call and telling someone you have to go meet someone else - had to have caused somewhat of a scene, however small. If you want to just slip off into the night, it doesn't make sense to me to do it that way.

Good points. I suppose he could have wanted it to appear as if something happened. Though, the call which came in at 9pm would give some indication of that. While Lenny's family is saying they don't know who called, there would be record of the number that came in. Which is why I wonder how those track phones or disposable phones are traced/tracked. IOW, can LE determine if the number assigned to that phone was recently purchased in order to commit a crime? Can they determine the point of sale and check survellience from the point of sale?

I honestly have very little reason to believe he left willingly. Probably .05%, but it did cross my mind due to the oddity (imo) of the phone being found on/near the bridge and the atm being used so close to the court house.

 

[Soulmagent]

Is that a phone in the POI's hand? It looks like he has something in his hand but I can't make out what it is.

Ok, I had forgotten which street Lenny's wife last tracked the cell phone. If the cell was tracked to King, and the ATM was used on King, I am hoping LE is looking at other survellience from that immediate area to see if they can locate Lenny's car on survellience to see if someone else was driving, or someone was in the car with him.

If Lenny was to meet someone and ran into random trouble enroute to his intended destination, I would think the person expecting him would have called back trying to find out where Lenny was and hadn't made it. I hope LE has checked Lenny's phone records for all calls after the 9pm call.

I had them confused. Sorry.

 

[belimom]

That tattoo seems very "gang-esque". I googled and I think that the top part is either a crown or flames (the crown is big in the Latin Kings and a few other gangs). I keep wanting to make those 3's (or the 3 - can't tell if it's one or two) turn into MS 13 but I can't quite make it fit. MS13 has been big in Alexandria.

OT: While researching MS13's symbols (one of which was spray painted on our fence years ago), I came across something interesting regarding the case of our sheriff's wife that I mentioned on the previous page - not sure if I agree but I had not heard of that previously:

In Del Ray, a section of Alexandria, Virginia, MS13 is believed to have been involved in the still unsolved murder of Nancy Dunning, 56, wife of the Fairfax County Sheriff, James Dunning, in the family home. Sheriff Dunning has a high profile position as the official responsible for the County Detention Facility that houses both local and federal offenders awaiting trial or deportation.

http://www.apfn.org/APFN/ms-13.htm

 

[CMac2]

Almost from the beginning, authorities have said they believe Lenny Harris to be in danger. I assumed they knew this because they had probably identified whoever the last person to call Lenny's phone had been, and had a fairly good idea who he was going to meet that night.

Now, however, I guess I'm not so sure.

If LE knew who had called Lenny the night he left his meeting and vanished, knew the person's identity well enough to proclaim Lenny is in danger, and if that person was the same person seen in the surveillance video using LH's credit card, wouldn't he probably have been identified by now? I also notice in the Washington Post article, the surveillance-video-ATM-guy is considered a person of interest. Maybe there's more than one POI? I don't know- maybe one person to make Lenny disappear, and an accomplice to steal his money/valuables? Doesn't pan out for me, though.

Makes me think that contrary to my original impression, the police do not know the identity of the person who called Lenny the night he went missing, and they do think the man on the video could be that mysterious caller.

If they have been unable to identify the person who called Lenny that night, I wonder what made LE state so confidently from the start that Lenny is in danger. Maybe he left without taking important medication or something?

 

[SurfieTX]

He was wearing sweatpants, correct? If so, where would he keep his wallet and phone? Most sweatpants do not have pockets.

 

[CMac2]

All of my sweatpants have pockets... and I polled my DH too. His all have pockets as well (and as an athlete/sports official/exercise fanatic, he has TONS of sweatpants). He did say sweatpants didn't used to have pockets, but almost all do now, FWIW.

 

[CMac2]

This article states that someone "tried" to use Lenny's credit card, so I guess it's possible he didn't have the PIN and therefore was not successful in using the card. If that's the case, as others have speculated, this man may have simply found the card, and had nothing to do with the actual disappearance- though LE is calling him a POI.

http://www.examiner.com/missing-persons-in-national/lenwood-harris-missing-activist-from-virginia

 

[belimom]

Regarding the phone call he received during the meeting, I think LE must know who that was. He's been missing for 6 days now, so I would assume they have either gotten the records from the phone company or either his wife was able to get it herself from logging into their account online (if she has access). Depending on the condition of his phone when it was recovered on the bridge, they may have been able to just get it from there.

I'm getting more and more worried about Lenny, although I was worried from minute one.

 

[dreamweaver]

FINALLY got picked up by the Washington Post... I hope it generates some more tips/clues...

raying:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ing-in-danger/2011/09/26/gIQAHslozK_blog.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ing-in-danger/2011/09/26/gIQAHslozK_blog.html
What is he holding in his left hand? It looks like a remote or maybe a cell phone?