O Donnell Heights

A man who survived the killings in December of five women in Northeast Baltimore -- and was later arrested for allegedly kidnapping a woman and threatening to kill one of his relatives -- is wanted in a revenge slaying, police said yesterday. A first-degree murder warrant has been issued for Ronald P. McNeil, 37, of the 3500 block of Elmley Ave. in Belair-Edison, where the five drug-related killings occurred Dec. 5. The warrant contends he shot and killed Chris Manning, 22, about noon Jan. 25 at O'Donnell Street and Demarcay Way. "The motive was revenge for the killing of the five women," said police spokeswoman Angelique Cook-Hayes.

In Baltimore CountyConvictions upheld in murder of girl, 9, from PikesvilleANNAPOLIS -- The state's second-highest court has upheld the convictions in the murder of Rita Denise Fisher, the 9-year-old who died in 1997 of dehydration after years of abuse at the hands of her mother, sister and the sister's boyfriend in their Pikesville home.The Court of Special Appeals, in a 94-page opinion written by Judge Charles E. Moylan Jr., knocked down several challenges to legal decisions made by Baltimore County Circuit Judge Dana M. Levitz -- including trying all three defendants together so that another sister, also abused, would have to testify only once.

The intended target, prosecutors say, was Lee Dotson, a member of an O'Donnell Heights gang engaged in a vicious, weeks-long turf war. But the bullet hit his 16-year-old girlfriend, Estefany Gonzalez. Dotson, the only eyewitness to the crime, refused to name her killer. Yesterday Juan Hernandez, the man prosecutors believe killed the former Patterson High School student, entered an Alford plea - an acknowledgment that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict but not an admission of guilt - to second-degree murder and handgun charges.

Federal prosecutors unsealed indictments yesterday charging 13 people with participating in two warring drug gangs that terrorized an East Baltimore neighborhood and killed at least four people, including a Northern High School all-star quarterback.The quarterback, 18-year-old Rocco Colavito Cash, was killed in an August 1997 drive-by shooting when a member of one of the gangs mistook him for a rival enforcer who had been targeted for execution, prosecutors said in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

In Baltimore City Man's body found in wooded area of Leakin Park A U.S. government surveying team working in Leakin Park yesterday discovered the body of an unidentified man several yards off a road. The man's death is being investigated as a homicide, police said. Sgt. Darryl Massey said the federal team was working near Franklintown Road not far from a bike and walking trail about 8:30 a.m. when they found the body in a wooded area and called police. The body was taken to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy and possible identification through fingerprints.

Kidnapping charges are pending against two local teen-agers after the recovery last night of two children in Beaufort, N.C., where they were taken after someone signed them out of a southeast Baltimore elementary school Wednesday.Maj. Marvin Knox, a spokesman for the Beaufort Police Department, said James Allen Smith, 7, and his sister, Keisha Lynn Smith, 5, both of the 1100 block of Rayleigh Way in O'Donnell Heights, were found at 8 p.m. yesterday near a Freshway convenience store.The police spokesman said Beaufort officers went to the convenience store after receiving a telephone call from one of the suspects.

In Baltimore CityCity Council targets incentives for bulk tax-sale purchasesThe Baltimore City Council has given preliminary approval to a bill that would cut interest paid on tax-delinquent properties from 24 percent to 18 percent.The council voted late Thursday to trim the rate to reduce the incentive to companies outside the city buying tax-delinquent properties in bulk. The city allows investors to pay the delinquent taxes in return for being able to seek a higher-than-average interest rate on the money in return.

Public housing advocates are condemning proposals by the Bush administration to impose a minimum rent for public housing tenants and cut off funding for rebuilding old projects like those in Cherry Hill and O'Donnell Heights in Baltimore. Requiring tenants to pay at least $50 a month regardless of their income could force hundreds in the Baltimore area to beg for the money, advocates and local officials warn. "It's going to affect the poorest of the poor, people with no income. For these families, it would certainly create a hardship," said Lyle Schumann, deputy executive director of the Baltimore City Housing Authority.

The first shot was fired on the afternoon of Monday, June 19, 1995 -- right into Jerry Cooper's head. There was a second and a third shot, perhaps a fourth. Cooper, who had been using the pay phone next to Eddie's Super Market, died instantly.Inside the store, at Dundalk Avenue and O'Donnell Street, Lewis Greenberg heard the shots and the scream of a customer. He arose from the chair in his office and ran to the front door but stopped himself from going outside. Instead, he hit the store's holdup alarm and waited for police.

Baltimore officials awarded the rights to run four city recreation centers to three nonprofit groups Wednesday despite fiery opposition from City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young. The vote by the city's spending board marked the first step in an administration plan to focus public spending on other centers. "In the end, it's the right thing to do for the children of Baltimore," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who has proposed ceding control of as many as 25 rec centers to private groups.