UPDATE #2:
An Oxon Hill man charged with killing Alexandria, Va., activist Lenwood “Lenny” Harris, whose body was found dumped in a Fort Washington well in January three months after his disappearance, will continue to be held in prison without bond after a Prince George’s County District Court ruling Tuesday.
Linwood Johnson, 49, of the 1400 block of Southview Drive was the first of three suspects arrested in the homicide case and is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Harris, 53.
The other two men charged with first-degree murder are Ivan Newman, 20, of Waldorf and Tyrone Lewis, 26, of Fort Washington.
Lewis has been held in Alexandria since October for larceny charges unrelated to Harris’ death, and Newman is being held in Prince George’s County Department of Corrections without bond. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Prince George’s County District Court.
Johnson was arrested Jan. 30, five days after Harris’ body was found with gunshot wounds at the bottom of a 20-foot well on a vacant property on Old Fort Road. Newman was arrested Feb. 2, and Lewis was identified as a suspect and charged Feb. 6.
During Johnson’s preliminary hearing Tuesday morning, Prince George’s County District Court Judge John Morrissey heard accounts from Detective Joseph Bunce of the Prince George’s County Police Department, who said Johnson confessed to being involved in the killing.
Leslie Graves, a spokeswoman for the Prince George’s County state’s attorney’s office, said Johnson will likely be indicted before March 29, the standard 30-day dismissal date set by Morrissey.
During the hearing, Bunce said Johnson told him the three men killed Harris after robbing him of his wallet and two cell phones but realized that Harris had recognized Lewis.
“He advised [police] that he and two others went to rob [Harris] in Virginia and after the victim recognized a co-defendant, they decided [Harris] would have to be killed,” Bunce said when asked about Johnson’s alleged confession.
Bunce said Johnson confessed that the three suspects shot Harris at the site of the well in Fort Washington using a sawed-off shotgun the night he went missing Sept. 21, although he said Lewis did the actual shooting.
Bunce also said police recovered the shotgun at Oxon Run Park in Washington, D.C., where he said Johnson told him he and the suspects buried the weapon.
Family members who attended the hearing declined to comment.
Attorney information for Lewis was not listed with the court on Tuesday.
Calls to Newman’s defense attorney, Brendan Callahan, whose office is in Suitland, were not returned on Tuesday.
Paul Batchelor, the assistant public defender representing Johnson, could not be reached for comment.
Source: http://bit.ly/ww2Dlo
UPDATE # 1: Body found in well may be community activist Lenwood “Lenny” Harris (VA)http://bit.ly/zRZP1H
A large police presence — including investigators from Alexandria, Va. — responded to a report of a body in a well in Prince George’s County, Md., Thursday afternoon.
A body has been found in the 20-foot well behind an apparently abandoned home in the 11900 block of Old Fort Road following an anonymous tip just after noon, News4’s Jackie Bensen reported.
The recovery of the body will be a challenge, said Julie Parker, of Prince George’s County police. They need to excavate around the well and and trying to prevent against a well collapse. They also must determine if any underground utilities are near the well.
Homicide investigators went to the scene, but so far it remains a death investigation in its early stages.
Investigators from Alexandria, where community activist Lenwood “Lenny” Harris disappeared, went to the scene, Bensen reported. After he disappeared in September, Harris’s phone was found on the Wilson Bridge, not far from the well. His car was found abandoned in October in Prince George’s County.
Police suspect foul play in the disappearance of Harris. Surveillance cameras show someone using his credit card since his disappearance.
Harris was known as an advocate for the underprivileged. He was a regular at recreation centers where he would help find tutors for children.
He was last seen at an Alexandria recreation center the evening of Sept. 21.
Lenwood Harris, 53, was reported missing on Sept. 21, 2011. He was last seen at the Charles Houston Recreation Center in the Old Town area of Alexandria. He received a call from an unknown individual and left the center to meet with the caller at about 9 p.m. When he failed to return home the next morning, his family reported him missing, police said.
Police say they suspect foul play. Investigators found his cell phone discarded on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, and surveillance cameras have twice captured people trying to use his credit cards at bank machines, once on King Street in Alexandria, and once in Prince George’s County.
His family and friends have been conducting desperate searches for him.
Lenwood “Lenny” Harris’s car was found in Prince George’s County, almost three weeks after the Alexandria activist disappeared.
Harris’s 1994 Toyota Corolla was unoccupied when police located it at 5 a.m.
Harris, a popular civic activist and businessman, is a longtime fixture at Alexandria community meetings. He often speaks for the underprivileged and is a regular at city recreation centers, where he leads children in outdoor activities and helps them find tutors.
Lenny Harris is described as African American, 6 feet 1 inch tall and 210 pounds. He has dark hair and brown eyes. Harris was last seen wearing a gray sweat top and gray sweatpants.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Harris, his vehicle or the person of interest, is asked to call the Criminal Investigations Section of the Alexandria Police Department at 703-746-4711 or the non-emergency number at 703-838-4444
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