Cops: 30-Year-Old Cold Case Cracked In N.J.

[The Bobster]

http://cbs3.com/topstories/nj.cold.case.2.1581973.html

Cops: 30-Year-Old Cold Case Cracked In N.J.
Famblies Of 5 Boys Who Disappeared 31 Years Ago In N.J. Have Some Answers Now That 2 Men Have Been Arrested

NEWARK, N.J. (CBS) ― Police in New Jersey believe they've solved one of the state's oldest cold cases, one that dates back more than 30 years.

Two arrests were made Monday in connection with five missing boys who were never to be seen again.

But Monday night, police had suspects in custody and the boys' families finally getting answers to questions they've anguished over since August of 1978.

"After 30 years, you're no longer grieving, but you're still wondering," Helen Simmons, an aunt of one of the victims, told CBS station WCBS-TV back in May of 2009.

The parents of the five teens never knew the answers, until now. The teens, 16 and 17, who'd never been in trouble, disappeared from their own neighborhood.

They came to be known as the "Clinton Avenue Five."

"It's probably the most sensational case this city had in its past, in its history," Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy said.

Suddenly gone were Randy Johnson, Michael McDowell, Melvin Pittman, Ernest Taylor, and Alvin Turner. That day, the five had played bassetball at a local park and then disappeared.

"They were murdered, pure and simple," Simmons said.

Lee Evans, who was last seen with the boys, has always denied any involvement in the disappearances, but was one of the two men apprehended by police on Monday.

 

[Nigtarded]

Two men are charged with killing five teens who vanished 30 years ago in Newark
By Star-Ledger Staff
March 22, 2010, 11:50PM

Law enforcement officials lead one of two suspects arrested in connection with the 1978 disappearance of five teenagers from the Essex County Courthouse.

Police lead a second suspect out of the County Courthouse late Monday night.

Terry Lawson, sister of missing teenager Michael McDowell, looks at old news clips about the disappearance of the five teenagers on an August evening in 1978 in Newark.​

NEWARK -- Two men were arrested Monday night and charged with the murder of five teenage boys who vanished from a Newark street nearly 32 years ago, authorities said, in one of the most baffling missing persons cases in state history.

Two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation identified one of the men as Lee Evans, who was originally considered a suspect in the boys’ disappearance in 1978. The officials asked not to be named because they are not at liberty to discuss the case publicly. The second suspect was not immediately identified.

Not long after the boys vanished, Evans, a local carpenter, passed at least one lie-detector test and had been eliminated as a suspect.

The two suspects were charged with murder and arson in the case that has confounded police because the boys left behind no traces of evidence, and were all unlikely runaways, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said.

The prosecutor’s office did not immediately say how the case was solved.

However, law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation but not authoritized to speak publicly about it said the five teenagers were led into an abandoned house on Camden Street in Newark, where they were locked inside at gunpoint. The house was then burned to the ground.

A news conference was scheduled for 10 a.m. at the prosecutor’s office in Newark, where details of the arrest and investigation were to be discussed. The boys’ relatives have been notified about the arrests, authorities said.

Officials from the Newark Police Department, the State Police and the Prosecutor’s Office led the two handcuffed suspects out of the Essex County Courthouse in Newark shortly before 11 p.m. Monday. The two men ignored questions from reporters as they were put into two unmarked police vehicles.

The missing boys, Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both 17, and Alvin Turner, Randy Johnson, and Michael McDowell, all 16, were last seen on a busy street near West Side Park, where they had played basketball, on Aug. 20, 1978.

Four of the five were from Newark. McDowell had moved to East Orange shortly before he disappeared.

At the time of their disappearance, police believe the five helped Evans unload boxes from his truck before returning to their homes for dinner. Investigators said the teens were last seen on the corner of Clinton Avenue and Fabyan Place.

Dozens of detectives worked on the case over the years with little result. One of the few promising leads came soon after the disappearance, when Newark police traced an anonymous call â┚¬”�� claiming the boys were in jail in Washington, D.C. â┚¬”�� back to the nation’s capital.

The caller offered to put up $150 for the boys’ bail, but police quickly dismissed the call as a prank.

Detectives also reviewed lists of victims in a serial killing case in Atlanta and the mass suicides in Jonestown, Guyana. They even searched areas pinpointed by two psychics but came up empty.

McDowell’s sister, Terry Lawson, and his aunt, Helen Simmons, said that Newark police contacted them earlier in the evening about the arrests.

"We really want to make sure this is actually happening after all this time," said Lawson, who lives in Hillside and was 11 when her brother disappeared. "We’ve been waiting for this phone call for 30 years. To receive it is shocking."

Simmons, a Newark resident, called the news "a bittersweet victory."

"Now is the time finally someone will be accountable for actions taken," she said.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/03/authorities_charge_two_men_wit.html

 

[Arheel's Uncle]

Sydney Morning Herald

32 years on: murder charges laid after teens burnt alive

On an August night 32 years ago, US authorities say, three men who believed five teenage boys had stolen their drugs herded them into an abandoned house at gunpoint, tied them up and set the building on fire, burning them alive and leaving no trace.

www.smh.com.au

32 years on: murder charges laid after teens burnt alive​

March 24, 2010 — 8.58am

March 24, 2010 — 8.58am



On an August night 32 years ago, US authorities say, three men who believed five teenage boys had stolen their drugs herded them into an abandoned house at gunpoint, tied them up and set the building on fire, burning them alive and leaving no trace.
Those details on one of the coldest and most baffling missing-persons cases New Jersey has ever seen became known on Tuesday as prosecutors announced that two of the men had been arrested on a recent tip from a witness. A third suspect died in 2008.

Accused ... Lee Evans, left, and Philander Hampton.Credit: AP


The teens, aged 16 and 17, had not been seen since they disappeared, and the five bodies were never found in the rubble of the destroyed house. The suspects believed the boys had stolen a pound of marijuana from one of them, the Essex County prosecutor's office said.
One of the suspects, 56-year-old Lee Evans, routinely hired teenagers to help with odd jobs, officials said. He was interviewed in the months after the disappearances but was cleared as a suspect.

Evans, of nearby Irvington, and Philander Hampton, 53, of Jersey City, were charged with murder and arson and are being held on $US5 million ($5.4 million) bail each, the prosecutor's office said.
The boys, Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both 17, and Alvin Turner, Randy Johnson and Michael McDowell, all 16, were last seen on a busy street near a park where they had played basketball on August 20, 1978.

Evans told police at the time that he dropped off the boys on a street corner near an ice cream parlour. Later that night, Michael McDowell returned home and changed clothes, then returned to a waiting pick-up truck with at least one other boy inside. That was the last confirmed sighting of any of the teens.
McDowell's uncle, William McDowell, said on Tuesday that the family always felt Evans was responsible.
"It's been very frustrating for Michael's family and for myself," McDowell said.


Investigators said on Tuesday they believe that two of the boys were taken to the house first, and that three more were taken later. They said the tip came 18 months ago.
Four of the boys were from Newark. McDowell had recently moved to East Orange.