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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Federal charges unsealed in 2007 triple homicide

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posted by Bob at Wednesday, January 20, 2010

2 Comments:

Anonymous Tribune said...

After three years of frustration, two suspects in a 2007 St. Paul triple slaying have been indicted for murder in federal court.

By JAMES WALSH, Star Tribune

Last update: January 20, 2010 - 3:48 PM

What looked like a cold case heated up considerably Wednesday after federal indictments were unsealed against two men, charging them with murder in a 2007 St. Paul triple homicide.

Tyvarus Lee Lindsey, 28, and Rashad Raleigh, 31, each have been indicted on three counts of murder as a result of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. While the indictment gives no details, it connects Lindsey and Raleigh with the 2007 murders of Maria McLay, 32, her boyfriend Otahl Saunders, 31, and her daughter Brittany Kekedakis, 15. Two younger children who were in the house at the time of the killings escaped.

The indictment against Lindsey and Raleigh also charged the men with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime, "namely, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances."

It was "during the course of that criminal conduct" that they "with malice aforethought, willfully, deliberately, maliciously and with premeditation killed" Saunders, McLay and Kekedakis, the indictment alleges.

4:21 PM  
Anonymous story continued said...

Lindsey and Raleigh already are in prison for other murders committed elsewhere in the Twin Cities.

In fact, Raleigh had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the beating death of former basketball player-turned-probation officer Howard Porter in return for a deal with state prosecutors that he would not be charged in the triple homicide. That deal, apparently, did not preclude federal charges.

In December 2007, nine months after the North End killings, Lindsey was sentenced to 36 years in prison for the April 2005 killing of a man whose SUV Lindsey tried to steal. At the time, police described Lindsey as a career criminal with possible ties to other homicides.

Saunders, McLay and Kekedakis were killed in their home on the city's North End when a group of masked men broke through a back door just after 6:30 a.m. on March 23, 2007, reportedly looking for drugs and money.

Investigators said at the time that they did not believe the shootings were random, but they did not comment on possible links between the victims and their killers. At a community forum shortly after the killings, St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington said that preliminary indications hinted at gang activity as a backdrop to the shootings.

According to police, Lindsey and Raleigh quickly became prime suspects. But police said that witnesses had been reluctant to come forward in that case, despite the fact the men were locked up for other murders. That, despite an offered reward that had swelled to more than $22,000.

Back in April, officials and family members pleaded with the public to end a "code of silence" in the North End-area killings. It is not clear what break in the case led to the unsealing of the federal indictments Wednesday.
A call to a St. Police spokesman and a call to the U.S. Attorneys office were not immediately returned early Wednesday afternoon.

James Walsh • 612-673-7428

4:21 PM  

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