A murdered Glen Burnie pharmacist whose body was found Sunday in Southwest Baltimore was targeted by four attackers who followed the woman's car and then kidnapped her at gunpoint near her home, city police said.
It was a crude scheme to car-jack and rob someone, police said, that began in a quiet suburban neighborhood and ended with the death of Yvette A. Beakes, 26.
In court papers and interviews yesterday, city police laid out this version of events:
About 11 p.m. Wednesday, Beakes left Pickles Pub near Camden Yards and drove home. Outside of Baltimore, the four kidnappers spotted Beakes driving her silver 2001 Acura CLS.
They trailed Beakes into her apartment complex off East Ordnance Road in Glen Burnie and rammed her Acura with their 1990 Plymouth van, apparently to stage an accident and lure Beakes from her car.
As Beakes left her car, two teen-agers leapt from the van and rushed toward her, one putting a handgun to the back of her neck and forcing her into the van.
Three of the kidnappers then drove away with Beakes, while the fourth suspect, a 15-year-old boy, hopped behind the wheel of the Acura and drove away.
That night, the attackers stopped at several automated teller machines and withdrew cash from Beakes' bank account.
But the plan eventually fell apart - one of the attackers used Beakes' cellular phone to call the home of another suspect. That allowed police to find the suspects but not until after Beakes was killed.
A few hours after kidnapping Beakes, three of the assailants drove her to the 300 block of N. Athol Ave. and took her into the woods. There, they shot her in the head.
"She was an innocent victim who didn't do anything wrong," said Ragina C. Averella, a city police spokeswoman.
Police arrested four suspects Sunday. Charged as adults with first-degree murder are Brian Wilson, 15, of the 2600 block of Garrett Ave.; Brian McMillan, 18, of the 2500 block of Garrett Ave.; Larry Walker, 16, of the 2200 block of Homewood Ave.; and Jamal D. Barnes, 23, of the 4300 block of Seminole Ave.
They are being held without bail pending a hearing today in Baltimore District Court. All could face the death penalty if convicted.
The three teen-agers knew each other from their Northeast Baltimore neighborhood, relatives and police said. McMillan's sister is married to Barnes, who lives in Southwest Baltimore.
Relatives of two of the suspects said they did not think they could have participated in the crime.
"My son is a good kid," said Delmara McMillan, 42. "My son wasn't involved. He knows better than to get involved in something like this."
McMillan dropped out of high school and was attending a job training program before his arrest, his mother said.
Wilson's sister Sharron Wilson, 18, said her brother is not the type of person to kill someone. "He didn't pull that gun on her," she said. But she said her brother had fallen in with a bad crowd - "thugs, thugs, thugs" - and didn't listen to the advice of family members. "All of us tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen," she said.
She said her brother had graduated from eighth grade and was about to enter high school. She did not know which school.
Walker's family declined to comment. Barnes' wife, Iashia, 23, said she was not sure whether her husband was involved in Beakes' death. "I don't know," she said, sitting in her living room and changing the diaper of their 5-month-old daughter.
Barnes graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in 1996, his wife said. Barnes has been arrested twice in Baltimore County for auto theft and theft. He was sentenced to six years in prison for stealing a car in 1996. He was eventually paroled and was arrested in 1998 for stealing another car and seven rifles from the car's trunk.
A year later, he was sentenced to time served and given a five-year suspended sentence in that case.
Wilson, known in his neighborhood as "Little Brian," was found involved in auto theft in 1998 in juvenile court. In 1999, he was found involved in auto theft again and an attempted auto theft case, law enforcement officials said.
He was committed to a group home, where he made satisfactory progress before being released in June to his grandmother, Barbara Downey.
The other two teen-agers - Walker and McMillan - also have run into minor trouble in the juvenile justice system.
Walker was found involved in 1999 for having a kitchen knife on him and was found involved on charges of being a rogue and vagabond last month, law enforcement officials said.
Last year, McMillan was sentenced to 10 hours of community service in a malicious destruction of property case that included charges of burglary and theft, officials said.
Beakes worked as a pharmacist for several Kmart stores. She earned her doctorate in pharmacy last year from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
She lived with her boyfriend, Kenneth Shipley, in the 6500 block of Fable Court. He last saw her about 8 p.m. Wednesday, before she left to meet a friend at Pickles Pub.
