One of the most tragic and painful cases I can remember ended today when a man pleaded guilty in connection with the killing former Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm's stepdaughter. Details of the plea deal are here (it appears she was killed by someone she knew in a dispute over drugs) and the New York Times profile is here.

It was just last near that the body of Nicole Desiree Sesker was found in Northwest Baltimore, the day after her 39th birthday. In 2005, the New York Times talked at length about her for a story on Baltimore, and how a big-city police chief handled a relative strung on drugs and surviving by prostitution. Above, in a picture by The Sun's Andre Chung, police officers question Sesker after arresting a drug suspect in Northwest Baltimore a day after The Times story was published.

Hamm, a product of Baltimore, was one of the first police commanders I had ever met, and he called me angry about one of the first stories I had ever written. He was commander of the Central District at the time, 1994, and I had written about a man wounded in a hatchet attack. It was a short story, but the then-Evening Sun gave it big play above the fold for its early afternoon edition. He thought we had hyped the story, and he was right.

The New York Times wrote about Hamm and his daughter because it showed how, in a city already known for its addiction to drugs and violence, even the police chief's daughter is not immune. Hamm talked about how difficult it was given she refused all help, and when we had reporters go out the next day, we found police, the very ones who worked for Hamm, arresting a man and giving a lecture to Sesker. In the profile, the New York Times ran a picture of Sesker standing on a corner prostituting herself.

A difficult time for the city. A telling story about how drugs has ravaged some neighborhoods and some lives. And proof that arrests won't get us out of this problem.