Two Arrested in Baltimore Kids' Murders
Friday, May 28, 2004
BALTIMORE — Police have arrested two men in connection with the grisly murder of three children related to them, city officials said Friday.
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (search) and Deputy Police Commissioner Kenneth Blackwell said during a Friday morning news conference that they'd nabbed two Hispanic male relatives of the children, whose mutilated bodies were found late Thursday in a northwest Baltimore apartment.
Police identified the suspects as Adan Espinosa Canela, 17, and Policarpio Espinosa, 22. They are cousins and are related to the victims although it was not immediately clear in what way.
A boy, his sister and their male cousin were found by the mother of at least one of the children when she returned home from work to their first-floor apartment late Thursday afternoon.
One child was beheaded, the other two partially beheaded. Two children were found in one bedroom; a third was found in another.
The children were identified as 9-year-old Ricardo Espinoza, his 9-year-old sister, Lucero Quezada and their 10-year-old cousin, Alexis Quezada, a boy.
The men were apprehended Thursday a few blocks away from the scene and a few hours after the bodies were found, according to Baltimore Chief of Detectives Antonio Williams.
"They indeed were arrested, taken to our homicide unit to be questioned," Blackwell said during Friday's news conference. "We had enough preliminary information to charge these individuals." He didn't say what specific charges had been brought against the suspects.
Williams said there was no indication the killings were gang-related. The suspected murder weapon is a 10- or 12-inch butcher's knife found near the crime scene.
"I've been around for 35 years and I've seen, unfortunately, my share of murders, but I've never seen something as bad as this," said Blackwell.
No other information on the suspects, the crimes or a possible motive was immediately available.
The first officer on the scene "couldn't handle it" and had to give the call to another officer, Blackwell said. "Walking in on a scene, seeing children of that tender age in that condition, certainly breaks your heart."
The children had returned home from school about 3:30 p.m., Blackwell said.
When their mother, who speaks Spanish but little English, found the bodies, just after 5 p.m., she told a neighbor who called 911.
The mother gave police information about where to find one of the men being questioned, Blackwell said. Police found the man a few blocks away.
"We see this as an isolated incident," Blackwell said. "Neighbors have no reason to be concerned" about their safety.
O'Malley, who visited the scene, said it was "a brutal, tragic, unfathomably sad murder."
Al Johnson, who lives in the apartment complex, near where the children were found, said she heard the mother screaming and called 911.
"They freely run around," Johnson said of the children. "No one watches them because it's such a safe place. It's really hard to believe.
"They were very nice, cordial kids. It's such a shock to everyone. It's a very quiet, peaceful community."
Johnson said there are "three or four" Hispanic families in the complex who are very close.
Parents and teachers at the children's school, Cross Country Elementary, hugged each other Friday morning and cried. Officials said grief counselors would be on hand to help the 700 students.
The Art Deco apartment complex is in the Fallstaff neighborhood in the northwest corner of the city, not far from Pimlico Race Course (search), where the Preakness Stakes (search) was held two weeks ago. The complex is surrounded by well-tended homes and green lawns dotted with cicadas.
The neighborhood is largely Orthodox Jewish, with a mix of white, black and Hispanic residents. Jews in the area were observing the Shavuot (search) holiday, and many milled about the apartment complex on their way to and from prayers.
Matt Teichman, 17, a student at Talmudical Academy, was returning home from prayers when he heard the sirens and saw police.
"We walk here late at night and we usually feel safe," he said. "Now, I don't know what to feel. I can't really believe it."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
What a sick fucking world we live in.
