Slew of homicide arrests, including killing in argument over Facebook
After a slow start to the year, homicide detectives in recent days have made arrests in a slew of cases, new and old. Here's the skinny on some of them:
Harold Montaize Alford, 22: Alford is charged in the Feb. 17 murder of Adam Couther, 27, who was stabbed while trying to break up an argument between Alford and his aunt over her friends on Facebook, police say. According to charging documents, when police responded to the scene in the 700 block of N. Lakewood Ave., they found Alford holding a blue towel on Couther's neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Alford and Teresa Begett were both covered in blood, and Alford was "shaking uncontrollably," Detective Michael Moran wrote in charging documents.
Begett had returned from work and was sleeping on her sofa when Alford called her on her cell phone at about 2 a.m. and started arguing with her about a male friend on her Facebook page, Moran wrote. Begett hung up on Alford and moments later he showed up at her home and entered using a key. He began assaulting her, at one point wrapping his hands around her face and "smothering" her, records show. The argument subsided, but he later attacked her again, banging her head into the wall, police said.
Begett's nephew, Couther, came down stairs and pushed Alford off of her and helped his aunt to her feet. That's when Couther and Alford began fighting, and Begett held Couther back, police said. She told police that she felt Alford reach towards Couther, and then "felt a warm liquid running down the front of her," according to charging documents.
"Ms. Begett noticed it was blood and looked up at her nephew, Mr. Couther, and noticed a large laceration to his neck which was bleeding profusely," Moran wrote. "Ms. Begett then looked at Mr. Alford, who dropped a red bottle opener with a knife attachment to the ground and [Begett] stated 'What did you do.'"
"My life is gone," Alford said, according to charging documents. "But he was attacking me, he was attacking me."
Alford denied assaulting Begett and said he "saw a red and silver object going through the air" before Couther began bleeding. He said he did not know how Couther was cut and said neither he nor Begett were responsible.
Electronic court records suggest this is Alford's first criminal arrest. He is being held without bond. His court documents stipulate the following restrictions, and I've never before seen something in official court records with so many exclamation points: "HAVE NO CONTACT W/ TERESA BEGETT PENDING TRIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" That's 37 exclamation points.
Torrez Seymore, 21: Seymore, of Gwynn Oak, has been charged in the May 28, 2009 killing of 32-year-old Milton Stepney Sr. in the unit block of S. Eutaw St., downtown. Few details were available.
Stepney, 32, was shot about 2:40 a.m. at Eutaw and Lombard streets after he got into an argument with a man at a carryout restaurant and came at the man with a tire iron, police said at the time. According to witnesses, the man, who had attempted to defuse the argument, produced a handgun and said, "Do you think I'm a joke?" He then shot Stepney several times and fled.
Stepney, of the 1600 block of Vincent Lane, was taken to nearby Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he died about an hour later, police said. City officials confirmed that Stepney was a city employee, working for the Department of Transportation as a laborer.
Records show Seymore is awaiting trial on handgun charges stemming from an unrelated arrest in December.
Lavar Loardo Williams, 27: Williams is charged in the Dec. 24, 2007 beating death of Anthony Netzel, 56 in the unit block of S. Highland Ave.
Police say Williams, whose address is listed in College Park, entered Joe's Bar and began waiving around a knife. Netzel was a patron of the bar and attempted to leave when Williams punched him, knocking him to the ground. Police say the punch was unprovoked. Williams then began kicking and stomping on the Netzel's head and fled in an unknown direction. It's not clear from records why Williams was waving the knife or why he attacked Netzel.
Netzel was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital and later Genesis Nursing home, where he remained in a vegetative state until Dec. 30, 2009, when he was pronounced dead.
Williams has already been charged and convicted in connection with the crime, pleading guilty to life with all but 20 years suspended. The murder charge comes on top of that.
Williams is a convicted rapist, receiving 15 years in prison with 11 years suspended from Baltimore Circuit Judge Wanda Heard in connectoin with a 2002 attack.
Leroy Edward Johnson, 28: Johnson is charged in the June 21, 2009 killing of Wesley Nelson in the 1800 block of N. Chapel St. Officers were dispatched to the scene at 11:24 p.m. and found Nelson lying in the street, suffering from gunshot wounds. Not much information on this one, with police saying only that witnesses were located who identified Johnson as the person who shot Nelson with a handgun. Johnson is a convicted felon, prohibiting him from owning or possessing firearms.
Categories: East Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore
Comments
So convicted rapist Lavar Williams - sentenced to only 4 years in prison for his crime - wastes little time after his release to return to a life of violence, brutally and senselessly beating to death a man twice his age in an apparently unprovoked attack.
Is there any chance you could ask Judge Wanda Heard what she thinks of her lenient sentence now?
The least she could do would be to pick up the tab for the medical costs for the 2 years that the victim remained in a vegetative state after the attack.
Posted by: Justice For Whom? | February 19, 2010 1:08 PM
As a self-defense instructor to civilian, law enforcement, and military personnel, it is concerning to me how many people are aware of the problems of violent crime, and how few people are proactive in equipping themselves to defend against such violence.
At least two of these stories involved a third person who was a potential victim prior to the actual act of murder. There is high-quality self-defense training to address these exact concerns. I would urge anyone who is upset by this type of crime to consider what actionable steps you could take to help keep yourself and your loved ones safe.
Posted by: Jeff Mount | February 19, 2010 1:54 PM
Judge Wanda Heard ,
If not for your suspended sentence this animal would have remained in prison but instead you decided to let him out and Mr Netzel got to spend the last 2 years of his life as a vegatable. I'm sure he and his family are thankful......pathetic
Posted by: BuddhaUMD | February 19, 2010 2:12 PM
Judges should fall under the same scrutiny that regular employees do. Poor performance, you get fired. Very simple. Wanda would be doing somethng else now, if that were the case.
Posted by: B. Michael | February 19, 2010 5:24 PM
Hey everyone i fill you on the justice system it do suck, But the judges don't have the final say>do they? isn't there the review boards and probation officers who don't do there jobs?
Posted by: thiswood | February 19, 2010 8:57 PM
Alford tried to cut my friend in a similar incident last year
Posted by: Kirk Lazarus | February 19, 2010 10:32 PM
no comments on lt voielker,and her drug dealing boyfriend.still protecting this foul police department.this is why no one believes in the sunpapers to report the news.and when you do its a small uninteresting section
Whoops, Etalker. We wrote about it here: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/blog/2010/02/officer_investigated_for_court.html Efforts to follow up have not been fruitful, but we're hoping to use this to challenge a recent policy change that involves bench conferences being stripped from viewing on recordings of hearings at the courthouse.
Posted by: Etalker | February 19, 2010 11:30 PM
Responding to 'this wood'... I was a probation agent for 7 years and I can't count the number of times that I informed judges of my clients' new arrests and recommended jail time and the judge violated the client's probation and added additional probation time but allowed them to remain on the street. JUDGES HAVE THE LAST SAY IN VIOLATIONS AND SENTENCING!
Posted by: citizen1969 | February 20, 2010 5:19 AM
A girl was murdered not far from my residence (Brisbane, Australia) almost two years ago as a result of her ex-boyfriend tracking her down on facebook. .
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=576497
Posted by: Stan | March 1, 2010 7:36 AM
When reading these case and others, I often think that a lot of them could have been avoided if people had been more vigilant. People aren't naturally brave, and too many don't observe indicators of impending trouble.
Posted by: Kieran | September 27, 2010 2:38 AM