Homicide Watch Boston

Massachusetts State Police have issued an arrest warrant for Fernando Owens, the father of a Boston homicide victim, for the murder of a 29-year-old New Jersey woman whose body was found burning near train tracks in Bridgewater earlier this month.

According to the Boston Globe, officials say Owens, 43, killed Ashley Bortner “in retaliation” for his son’s death earlier that day.

Owens’ son, 21-year-old Dominic Owens, was shot and killed in Dorchester early on Nov. 2. Police say Fernando Owens was acquainted with Bortner, and he believed she “had a hand in” Dominic’s death, according to a press release from the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office.

Dominic Owens was shot multiple times and killed on Shepton Street in Dorchester at around 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Owens, who Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said was known to police and had a “violent criminal record,” also had a young son and was devoted to taking care of his son and his mother.

Hours after Dominic was killed, Fernando Owens was “visibly agitated, paced around, making calls on his cellphone,” according to the Globe.

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One person is dead and another remains hospitalized after suffering life-threatening injuries from a shooting in Jamaica Plain on Friday night.

Police were called to the area of 6 Wyman St. at around 6 p.m. Friday evening after receiving reports of gunshots. Upon arrival they found two men in their early 20’s suffering gunshot wounds in a parking lot adjacent to 348 Centre St.

One victim was transported to Boston Medical Center and the other was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The victims’ identities have not been released.

According to WCVB, the two men were in a parked vehicle in the parking lot when a black Mercedes SUV pulled up alongside it and someone inside opened fire.

Detectives blocked off the area with crime tape, according to the Boston Globe, and removed a black car from the crime scene at around 9:20 p.m.

The shooting happened in an area where there are many businesses and restaurants.

An employee of Pimentel Market said he saw a man run by the store clutching his side after the shooting, and then collapsed before police arrived and began administering aid.

Police have not arrested a suspect. Anyone with information is asked to call the homicide unit at 617-343-4470. Anonymous tips can be left by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS, or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).

More than half of the 30 homicides in Boston in 2015 (as of 11/19/15) remain unsolved. No one has been charged with the crimes. Police Commissioner William Evans is asking for the public’s help to bring justice to those 18 victims and the hundreds of other victims of unsolved murders in the city.

“No matter how insignificant you might think the information you have, please come forward, because all it might take is that little bit of information to solve a crime that’s gone unsolved for years,” said Evans. “We will guarantee that nobody will know who you are.”

If you have information about an unsolved homicide, contact the Boston Police Department Homicide Unit at (617) 343-4470. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can call the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at (800) 494-TIPS, or text the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).

Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley is appealing to the public for information about unsolved homicides in Boston.

“Giving families of homicide victims a sense of justice and closure is some of the most important work that we do,” said Conley. “Most of these cases are just one witness away from being closed and solved. Will you be that person for us?”

If you have information about an unsolved homicide, contact the Boston Police Department Homicide Unit at (617) 343-4470. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can call the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at (800) 494-TIPS, or text the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).

By Mackenzie Nichols

Jurors were set to continue deliberating Tuesday morning in the murder trial of Phillip Carrington. During closing statements to the jury on Friday morning, both the prosecution and defense revisited witness testimonies to support their arguments either for or against Carrington’s innocence in the murder of 47-year-old Celestine Walker.

On the night of May 11, 2013, Carrington allegedly went home with Walker despite the restraining order she held against him, and that was the last time she was seen alive. At the time, Walker was involved in two physically abusive relationships, said Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Hickman during her closing statement on Friday, but the police maintained that Walker’s boyfriend Philip Carrington was the only viable suspect in Walker’s homicide.

“Walker went from one abusive relationship to another, and she brought Carrington into her home despite the restraining order,” Hickman said. “Carrington has motive.”

According to Hickman, whoever killed Walker left her on the floor covered in a white sheet and locked her inside the apartment with their own set of keys. The next day was Mother’s Day, and Walker’s daughter Ashley Lee allegedly tried calling her, but could not reach her.

Later on, Hickman said, Lee received a phone call informing her that her mother was dead, so she and two other siblings went to Carrington’s Columbus Avenue apartment to confront him about the rumor.

According to Lee’s testimony, Carrington said “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it was an accident.” The children allegedly became violent with Carrington, but they did not tell police about the incident. Walker’s body was discovered a few days later, on May 16, when a neighbor reported an odor coming from her apartment and officials responded to the scene.

Carrington’s defense attorney Martin Murphy urged jurors to rethink some aspects of the witness testimonies during the trial. The woman who allegedly dropped Carrington and Walker off at Walker’s 34 Heath St. apartment on the night of the May 11, 2013 testified that she saw the couple walk into the building, but the door to the apartment is “physically impossible” to see from where the witness’s car was parked.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” Murphy said. “You can’t always say the person on the stand is telling the truth.”

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By Aren LeBrun 

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has signed an ordinance banning replica handguns in public spaces throughout the city. Officials believe the measure will save lives since residents and even police officers find it difficult to differentiate a real firearm from a toy gun.

The ordinance, signed Monday, Nov. 9, takes effect immediately and is an attempt to raise awareness of the dangers that replica handguns have on Boston’s youth.

“A lot of these young kids are out there going to school, having these replica guns taken off them,” Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said in an interview with Homicide Watch last week. “We’re not about locking kids up here, it’s more of an educational piece.”

One factor that is important to note is that imitation firearms are not simply used as toys. To date, the Boson Police Department has confiscated more than 150 of these replica firearms in connection with crimes. 

“We’re seeing more and more robberies with them.” Evans said. “The whole idea is, for everybody’s safety, to get these guns off the street.”

Mayor Walsh, whose office expresses an adamant devotion to ”providing safe and secure neighborhoods where every resident can thrive,” echoed Commissioner Evans’ sentiments after signing the ordinance on Monday.

“The safety of Boston’s residents and visitors is a top priority, and I am proud to sign this ordinance banning replica handguns in public spaces,” he said. “(This ordinance) will help us in our larger mission of raising community awareness and engagement to remove replica firearms from the hands of our youth.”

By Janine Eduljee and Aneri Pattani 

A jury is deliberating in the trial of three people charged with inadvertently killing a motorcyclist in 2013.

Defendants Davan Lee Egleston, Victor Martinez and Cherice Garcia are being  jointly tried. On a late night in early March of 2013, the three were allegedly driving an SUV when a man on a motorcycle or moped crashed into the right side of the bumper at an intersection in Dorchester, and later died on scene.

Cherice Garcia, of Dorchester, faces multiple charges, including reckless motor vehicle homicide and unlicensed driving. Egleston, also of Dorchester, is charged with two counts of witness intimidation. Martinez, of Revere, is charged with perjury.

But as court proceedings unfolded, it became unclear as to exactly which of three defendants was in the driver’s seat that night.

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Boston Police are investigating the death of a man shot and killed just after midnight Tuesday on Shepton Street in Dorchester.

At around 12:15 a.m. police responded to 15 Shepton St. for a report of shots fired in the area. Officers found a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police reportedly recovered eight shell casings from the scene.

The victim was a 21-year-old black man, according to Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. He is known to police and had a violent criminal record, Evans said.

Police are actively investigating the case and ask anyone with information to call detectives at 617-343-4470. People can leave anonymous tips on the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS, or texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27643).

Boston Police are investigating the murder of a man in Brighton late Thursday night.

Police responded to a call at around 11.45 p.m. for a person shot at 124 Telford St. in Brighton. The street connects Western Avenue and busy Soldiers Field Road.