Homicide Unit

Baltimore police abolished a much-criticized six-year policy of rotating officers through different assignments, saying yesterday that it crippled the department's effort to investigate homicides and bring killers to justice.Top department commanders said the "rotation" policy was directly responsible for a plummeting homicide arrest rate, which dropped from 70 percent five years ago to below 40 percent today, and an exodus of experienced detectives.The change is one of a series of moves announced yesterday, some of which are linked to Sunday's mass killings of five women in a rowhouse.

His family feared the worst after Marcus "Anton" Lesane went missing two weeks ago, and on Wednesday those concerns were confirmed when his body was found stashed behind a vacant home in Northwest Baltimore. Police confirmed that a body found Tuesday morning in the 2600 block of Loyola Southway was that of Lesane, a 27-year-old who had been living in Southwest Baltimore and was last seen April 10 with a friend. He had been shot. A resident who regularly sweeps the alley found his body in the rear of a crumbling vacant home, according to police and residents.

Though they aren't trumpeting it, the Baltimore Police Department's homicide unit has made several recent arrests in killings dating back to last year.  Police spokespeople said they did not know the motives behind the crimes. The arrests are a boost to a unit whose work was questioned just last week at a hearing at City Hall. As of today, the homicide unit's clearance rate is 53 percent.  -The oldest case involves the killing of Justin Marasa, a 22-year-old from Kenya found shot in a vehicle April 8, 2012 in the 1400 block of Holbrook St. Police said William Hunt, 29, has been indicted on murder charges in the killing.  -Garrick Powell Jr., 20, of Gwynn Oak, has been charged with the killing of 21-year-old John Planters, who was found in a grassy lot in the 2200 block of Annapolis Road on Oct. 25, 2012.

Their silence was atypical.So, Mary K. Edmondson went to the Reservoir Hill home to seek out the daughter and granddaughter she had not heard from for days. She climbed the brick rowhouse's steps to their apartment and used the landlord's key to let herself in.She found what she dreaded she might: her daughter and grandchild bound and stabbed to death.They were the second pair of women slain in the neighborhood in five weeks this summer, leaving residents -- especially women -- wary.Some consider the four killings an unfortunate fluke, but others wonder if the deaths are a sign that the battle their community is waging against violent crime is being lost.

Baltimore County Police said two women were stabbed - one fatally - in an incident overnight in the Parkville area. Police said that at 12:08 a.m., they responded to a home in the unit block of Lerner Court in Parkville.  A female had called 911 and asked for the police to be sent to the location, but gave no further information before the line disconnected, police said. When officers arrived, they found two females with stab wounds.  One female was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was taken to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries.  One person was taken into custody at the scene.

Detectives Ray Laslett and Mark Luther Hughes Occupation Both work as detectives in the Baltimore Police Department's homicide unit, which investigates suspicious deaths, including kidnappings and other high-profile crimes. In the news They took the lead in arresting a suspect last week in a series of murders, assaults and a rape of mostly elderly residents on the city's west and northwest sides that started in 1999. Career highlights Laslett, 45, joined the Police Department 23 years ago. He started in patrol in the Northwest District, where he spent 13 years.

Police are investigating the discovery of the bodies of a woman and dog found Friday in a Davidsonville home, Anne Arundel County police said. Police said they went to a home in the 3300 block of Royale Glen Court around 11:30 a.m. after two people reported finding the body of a woman there, identified by police Saturday as Nicole Burgess, 37. The woman had endured a "trauma" to her body, but police did not provide additional details; they called...

Not more than 24 hours after suspects in two separate drug slayings were arrested by Baltimore homicide detectives this month, they were returned to the street -- released on bail by District Court judges.Within days:* Witnesses and potential witnesses in the two cases became uncooperative, with some backing away from prior statements and others demanding police protection in a city that has little or no money to spend to ensure the safety of witnesses, police said.* One defendant apparently managed to remove as many as four semiautomatic weapons from his and his girlfriend's town house before detectives could obtain and execute a search warrant.

As City Council members prepare to question police homicide commanders today about the declining rate of solved slayings, a homicide squad sergeant is urging regular reviews of cases to improve the unit's accountability.Detective Sgt. Mark Tomlin made the suggestion last month in a memo to Maj. Kathleen Patek, who heads the unit, as a way to improve the clearance rate. A clearance occurs when a slaying is solved, usually by an arrest."In a random sampling of open cases from 1997, it is clear that a breakdown of accountability between supervisors and detectives has caused many cases to be left unattended, or simply pushed to the side," wrote Tomlin, a 19-year veteran of the department who has been a homicide unit supervisor for the past three years.

A Baltimore police detective who was thrust into the national spotlight while leading the investigation into a teenager who disappeared has been suspended after authorities said he allegedly went on a rogue hunt for his own missing daughter. Law enforcement sources — one within the city police department, another affiliated with police who has information on the case — said Tuesday that investigators are probing allegations that detective Daniel Thomas Nicholson IV used his badge while off duty to gain entry to homes in an unauthorized search.