Homicide Watch Boston

By Alexandra Malloy

After pleading guilty the day before, Jaquan Hill and Shakeem Johnson were sentenced on Feb. 18 for the 2012 murder of Roxbury resident Nicholas Martinez.

Martinez was killed on Oct. 17 while he was in his car on Southampton Street. Raymond Concepcion, who was 15 at the time, allegedly fired into Martinez’s car.  The volley of shots killed Martinez. 

Nicholas Martinez

Both Hill and Johnson admitted to knowing about the plan to kill Martinez, and helped Concepcion flee after the shooting. The 22 year-old was killed one day after he testified in a murder trial, incriminating an alleged Mission Hill gang member.

Hill and Johnson, 22 and 25 years old, respectively, were both sentenced 12 to 14 years in prison for manslaughter and up to five years for possession of a firearm without a license.

A member of the the Commonwealth’s prosecution read a victim impact statement aloud to the court after one of Martinez’s family members spoke on the stand.

“I feel like my life has been on pause since that night and my happiness has been robbed from me,” the letter read.

Before announcing the sentences, Judge Elizabeth Fahey made a statement of her own in regard to the case.

“This is the only way this sorrow, that is so real, is going to end,” she said, referring to the gang connection.

By Owen Pence and Alejandro Serrano

Two men pleaded guilty in court yesterday to killing Nicholas Martinez in 2012.

The change of plea for 22-year-old Jaquan Hill and 25-year-old Shakeem Johnson, came Wednesday after opening statements had already begun in their trial. Jury selection for the trial took more than a week to complete.

Martinez, 22, of Roxbury, was killed on Oct. 17 while he was in his car at a stoplight on Southampton Street in the South End. Raymond Concepcion, who was 15 at the time of the murder, allegedly got out of the nearby car he was in, firing into Martinez’s car. Martinez was hit with multiple bullets and killed.

Concepcion allegedly then got into the car Hill and Johnson were in, and all three fled the scene. A Boston Police detective who heard the shots began chasing the car, and city and state police ended up stopping the car on I-93. According to police, Hill was in the driver’s seat, Johnson in the passenger’s seat and Concepcion in the back seat; Johnson was wearing a court-ordered GPS monitoring device.

In court Wednesday, Hill and Johnson, represented by defense attorneys Rosemary Scapicchio and Christopher Belezos, admitted they had known about the plan to kill Martinez and had helped Martinez’s shooter, Raymond Concepcion, escape the scene of the crime.

In their opening statement, the prosecution intimated that Concepcion had also been in the car prior to the shooting, and that Hill and Johnson were co-conspirators in the plan to murder Martinez. Martinez’s death came just one day after he testified in a murder trial, incriminating an alleged Mission Hill gang member in the process.  

The defense for Mr. Hill planned to argue against his affiliation with any such Mission Hill gangs, pointing to a clean criminal record and racial profiling on behalf of Boston police as reason for Hill’s innocence. Meanwhile Belezos, representing Johnson, admitted to Johnson’s gang affiliation and presence on the night of the murder, but argued he had no knowledge of Martinez’s testimony the day prior, and thus no reason to act in concert with Concepcion, the accused shooter.

After the conclusion of opening statements and a brief recess, Hill and Johnson changed their pleas to guilty, and jurors were discharged. They pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a firearm without a license. The maximum sentence is 12-14 years for manslaughter and five years for possession of a firearm. The sentences can be served concurrently.

The men were set to be formally sentenced Thursday morning. A jury trial for Concepcion has been scheduled to begin Feb. 29 at 9 a.m. in Suffolk County Superior Court. Concepcion has also been charged with first-degree murder and unlicensed possession of a firearm.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office will conduct an investigation into the fatal shooting of a man in Dorchester last week by police when officers responded to a report of a shooting.

Officers responded to 107 Devon St. around 10:30 a.m. after receiving a 911 call for a shooting. The report claimed two men had been shot inside a home near the area. When officers arrived, they allegedly found Peter Fanfan, 29, of Dorchester, helping a wounded man down the street. When an officer opened his cruiser door, Fanfan allegedly began shooting at the officer. Surveillance video and audio, which was played for local clergy, reportedly shows Fanfan shooting at police.

Officers shouted three times to the man to put down the gun, according to a pastor who viewed the video, and then the officer returned fire, fatally wounding Fanfan.

Two men were injured in the shooting that police were responding to, which the Globe reports may have been a home invasion.

Fanfan reportedly had a lengthy criminal record which included other gun charges. He also was evaluated twice at Bridgewater State Hospital for mental health issues, according to the Boston Globe.

His sister Ruth told the Globe he seemed fine when she saw him the previous week and had been trying to improve himself, working to move out of his mother’s apartment and get his own place, and holding a job packaging salads.

The DA’s office appointed Assistant District Attorney John Verner to lead the investigation into the police-involved shooting.

“Our priority is to conduct a full, fair, thorough investigation,” DA Dan Conley said in a statement. “When it’s complete, we will release all our findings and the complete investigative file in the interests of total transparency. For now, we’re giving the investigators the time and the tools they need to do the job right.”

A judge has granted a motion for a new trial for Joseph Cousin, the 31-year-old man who was convicted in 2002 of killing 10-year-old Trina Persad after shooting her in the face with a shotgun.

According to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, a judge ruled that one of Cousin’s attorneys “had performed prior legal work for other clients that presented a conflict of interest” at the time of the trial.

Trina Persad

According to the DA’s office, Cousin was a “member of the notorious Magnolia-Intervale-Columbia gang.” On June 29, 2002, he was on a mission to retaliate against rivals at Jermaine Goffigan Park in Roxbury, where Persad was playing.

Civilian witnesses – including fellow gang members, rivals, and individuals completely unrelated to the victim or defendant – testified that Cousin fired a shotgun from the passenger’s side of a stolen Honda Civic, sending pellets through Persad’s face and skull and into her brain, causing fatal injuries. That testimony was corroborated by Cousin’s fingerprints in two locations on the passenger’s side of the vehicle and a spent shotgun shell consistent with the murder weapon inside the car when it was recovered. Cousin was arrested next to the stolen car about 15 minutes after the shooting by a Boston Police officer unaware of the gunfire at Goffigan Park.

Suffolk DA Dan Conley filed a notice of appeal after the judge’s ruling came down on Friday.

“Flawed as this ruling is, it’s primarily an interpretation of case law on conflict of interest,” Conley said. “It does not question the integrity of the jury’s verdict or the sufficiency of the evidence. The fact remains that Joseph Cousin armed himself with a loaded shotgun, pointed it out the window of a stolen car, and pulled the trigger, killing a 10-year-old girl in a playground named for another murdered child.”

The case will return to Suffolk Superior Court on Thursday, Feb. 18.

Police have identified the victim of Thursday evening’s shooting in Roxbury on Brookledge Street.

Marquis Waithe

Marquis Waithe, 22, of Roxbury, was found outside 55 Brookledge St. around 5:45 p.m. Thursday, suffering from a gunshot wound. Emergency responders transported him to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

According to a Facebook group set up in Waithe’s memory, Waithe, whom some friends called “Mr. Showtime,” was friendly and outgoing. Waite was involved in his church and volunteered to help feed the homeless, according to photos and stories his friends shared on the page. He had also participated in a peer leadership program through the Tenants’ Development Corporation.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Waithe’s family with funeral costs. The page describes him as a “son, brother, cousin, nephew and friend to many.”

The investigation into Waithe’s shooting continues, and police have not arrested a suspect in the case. Anyone with information regarding the shooting is asked to contact Boston Police homicide detectives at (617) 343-4470.

Anonymous tips can be made by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).

A man is dead after being shot in Roxbury Thursday evening.

Police received a call for a person shot around 5:45 p.m. at 55 Brookledge St. in Roxbury. At the scene, officers found a man estimated to be in his 20s suffering from a gunshot wound.

The man was taken to the hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead.

Officials have not released the man’s identity. No arrests had been made as of Friday.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Boston Police homicide detectives at (617) 343-4470. Anonymous tipsters can call the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS or text the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).

A South End man was arrested and arraigned Wednesday for the murder of a Roxbury man whose body was found inside a building in October, 2014.

Investigators were able to make a match to 21-year-old Victor Montes-Severino’s genetic profile from DNA collected at the crime scene, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley.

On Oct. 10, 2014, around 9 p.m., firefighters responded to a fire at 104 Winthrop St. in Roxbury. After extinguishing the five-alarm fire, which displaced multiple people living in the home, firefighters found a man’s body inside the home.

An autopsy revealed that the victim, 69-year-old Santo Bernabel, died from multiple stab wounds. Bernabel, who according to his obituary was living in Roxbury at the time of his death, was originally from Bani, Dominican Republic.

Through their investigation, law enforcement officials identified Montes-Severino as a suspect in the case. According to the DA’s office, records from a GPS monitoring device Montes-Severino was wearing at the time reportedly refuted his alibi that he was not near the scene at the time of the murder.

Montes-Severino admitted himself to Boston Medical Center on the night of the fire with a laceration to his hand, which he claimed was the result of being mugged in Chinatown. A subsequent review of the GPS monitor he was wearing revealed that he was, in fact, in the area of Bernabel’s Winthrop Street residence.

DNA evidence also played a role in the investigation.

As the investigation continued, Boston Police criminalists uploaded biological material recovered at the scene to the state’s DNA database – to which Montes-Severino had submitted a sample following his conviction on a 2012 robbery.

Police arrested Montes-Severino on Wednesday, and he was arraigned in Roxbury District Court. A judge ordered Montes-Severino held without bail for the murder charge.

Montes-Severino is due back in court on March 4.

A toddler who was rushed to the hospital Sunday night has died, and police are investigating.

Police have not officially identified the child, but FOX 25 reports the toddler is a 3-year-old boy, and a GoFundMe page identifies him as Kenai Whyte.

Boston police responded to the home at 23 Alpine St. in Roxbury around 9:40 p.m. Sunday after receiving a call for a “trauma incident.” When officers arrived, they found the boy unresponsive and Boston EMS took the child to Boston Medical Center. He died on Tuesday.

Kenai Whyte

According to a FOX25 interview with Ashley Young, who says she is Kenai’s biological mother, said Kenai was visiting with his father, stepmother and younger sister over the weekend when the incident occurred.

On the GoFundMe page, Young says Kenai died after sustaining “trauma to the head and body.”

The Department of Children and Families took custody of the toddler on Monday and also removed his infant sister from the home. The Boston Herald reports a DCF worker had checked on the children at the Alpine Street home on Friday.

The Department of Children and Families, which took custody of the boy on Monday, said it had an open case with the family and that a social worker had called a care provider as recently as Friday, who reported that the boy was “well-fed, clean,” and had “no behavioral issues.”

Andrea Grossman, a DCF spokeswoman, declined to provide further information, including how long DCF has been involved with the family or what prompted officials to open a case.

Police had not released any other details as of Wednesday evening but said the investigation is ongoing and asked anyone with information to call Boston Police homicide detectives at (617) 343-4470.

Anonymous tipsters can call the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS or text the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).

A multi-city raid on Friday led law enforcement officials to arrest 56 people connected to the national gang MS-13. In a 64-page federal indictment, officials linked members of the gang to five murders, including three in East Boston in recent months.

Those three homicides, all of teenage boys, were all killed allegedly because MS-13 leaders told lower ranking members they needed to commit violence to prove their worth to the group, according to the Boston Globe:

Irvin de Paz

Wilson Martinez, 15, and Irvin de Paz, 16, were killed in September 2015 in East Boston after MS-13 leaders ordered subordinates to prove themselves worthy by murdering rivals, officials said. Cristofer Perez-De La Cruz, 16, was killed in January with a gun, knives, and a machete after MS-13 leaders in Virginia told leaders of local “cliques” that their crews needed to be more violent, according to court records.

Wilson Martinez

Police Commissioner William B. Evans said the murders of rivals appeared to be based on MS-13’s orders for initiation rites for its members rather than retaliation. According to the indictment, young men were encouraged to commit murder in order to be promoted in the gang. “We’re talking real young victims here, and their families are still suffering,” Evans said.

Four people are accused of killing Perez-De la Cruz, according to the Globe:

Cristofer Perez de la Cruz

East Boston residents Edwin Diaz, 18, and Edwin Gonzalez, 20, and Chelsea residents Marvin Melgar, 21, and Jairo Perez, 24. Gonzalez is also accused of participating in the murder of 15-year-old Wilson Martinez.

Days after that murder, the federal indictment alleges that Perez and 22-year-old Jose Vasquez, the leader of a local MS-13 group, tried to hide evidence by allegedly burying knives, a machete and bloody clothes.

The indictment also revealed that MS-13 allegedly began recruiting teens from local high schools in East Boston, as well as schools in Chelsea and Everett.

By Diana Novakovic

Charles Reddicks was sentenced to life in prison Friday morning after he was convicted yesterday of second-degree murder in the April 27, 2012 shooting death of 25-year-old Mariano Malave in Jamaica Plain.

Reddicks was also convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of ammunitions.

In a full courtroom on Thursday, Reddicks’ family members were seated in the first row and some could not hold back tears as the conviction came down.

On Friday, several of Malave’s family members delivered emotional statements about Mariano before Reddicks was formally sentenced.

Mariano Malave

“I’ll never have the opportunity to talk to him again, to share stories and jokes,” Malave’s cousin told the court. “I’m grateful for the 25 years we had, but we won’t get 25 more. We’ll never be able to see him grow old, to have kids of his own.”

Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Linda Giles imposed the mandatory sentence for second-degree murder, which is life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

The sentencing came after more than a week of testimony and about three days of deliberations.