Pubdate: Tue, 14 Nov 2000
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2000 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Authors: Petula Dvorak and Fredrick Kunkle, Washington Post Staff Writers
Note: Staff writers David Fahrenthold, Phuong Ly and special correspondent 
Christine Haughney in New York City contributed to this report.
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1639/a01.html

MANHUNT IN TROOPER KILLING ENDS

The manhunt for the suspect in the killing of a Maryland state trooper 
ended peacefully early yesterday when police officers tracked him to a 
neighborhood in Brooklyn and arrested him on a federal warrant charging him 
with first-degree murder.

Authorities said the suspect, Kofi Apea Orleans-Lindsay, 23, arrived in New 
York within a day of the killing of Cpl. Edward M. Toatley, an undercover 
officer who was shot Oct. 30 during a drug sting that began in Maryland and 
ended tragically on a District street.

A combination of electronic wiretaps and traditional legwork helped 
authorities track down Orleans-Lindsay, a native of Ghana who lives in 
Silver Spring. Investigators subpoenaed the telephone records of his 
friends and set up court-approved wiretaps, using both to monitor 
conversations as the suspect went into hiding after the shooting, said Col. 
David B. Mitchell, superintendent of the Maryland State Police.

Orleans-Lindsay, flanked by FBI agents and federal marshals, stood silently 
through a brief hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge A. Simon Chrein in 
U.S. District Court in Brooklyn yesterday afternoon.

Chrein agreed to hold another hearing Friday to determine whether the 
government had enough proof to return Orleans-Lindsay to Washington. U.S. 
Attorney Wilma A. Lewis said the government had not decided whether to seek 
the death penalty, an option available to prosecutors because he is charged 
with a federal crime. Federal guidelines permit prosecutors to pursue the 
death penalty under certain circumstances, including the killing of a 
federal officer, which would apply because Toatley was federally deputized.

Orleans-Lindsay, apparently suspecting that police might be monitoring the 
telephone lines, used cellular phones, third-party calls and 
call-forwarding to give his pursuers the impression that he was still in 
the District. "I don't think there's a technology we didn't use," said D.C. 
Executive Assistant Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer.

The manhunt, which stretched from Washington to Baltimore, Philadelphia and 
New York, included an aggressive deployment in areas known to be frequented 
by the suspect. Though tips had come from New York since the day after the 
slaying, the investigation did not focus there until Thursday, Gainer said.

Authorities were offering a $100,000 reward, but Orleans-Lindsay was 
apparently confident that he would elude capture, at one point bragging to 
friends that he would never be caught. "Joke's on you, Kofi," Mitchell said 
at a news conference in the District announcing the arrest.

Police did not provide a chronology of their search, but a key break 
apparently came Thursday, when the operation moved to Brooklyn. 
Investigators followed the suspect's trail from the Riviera Motor Inn on 
Atlantic Avenue to apartments throughout the neighborhood. When police 
moved at 12:30 a.m. yesterday, Orleans-Lindsay was driving alone in a green 
Hyundai, which he had borrowed from an associate.

The hunt for the suspect was featured twice on the TV show "America's Most 
Wanted." A second segment Saturday night prompted 40 tips, including two 
from callers who helped confirm police suspicions that Orleans-Lindsay was 
in Brooklyn.

Toatley, who was posthumously promoted from trooper first class to 
corporal, met Orleans-Lindsay at the Takoma Park Metro station about 8 p.m. 
Oct. 30. The suspect left his silver Mercedes-Benz and climbed into the 
black Toyota 4Runner Toatley was driving, which was fitted with a hidden 
camera and audio tape to record the drug deal, according to a court 
affidavit unsealed yesterday.

Orleans-Lindsay told Toatley to drive to his "stash house" in the District. 
When they got there, the trooper handed over $3,500 and the suspect walked 
away, pretending to fetch the narcotics, the court documents said.

When he saw him returning about three minutes later, Toatley alerted the 
surveillance team in a van about a block away: "Here he comes." When the 
suspect got to the truck, Toatley asked, "Is everything all right?" court 
documents say.

Those were Toatley's final words. The surveillance equipment picked up a 
gunshot, then the trooper "gasping for breath."

Orleans-Lindsay's court-appointed attorney, Andrew Carter, indicated in 
court yesterday that he planned to argue that the suspect was misidentified 
in the video. The affidavit ties Orleans-Lindsay to the scene in several 
ways. He was identified by one officer who has known him for 10 years, and 
the .380-caliber shell casing found at the crime scene matches the kind of 
gun Toatley once said Orleans-Lindsay carried. Not far from Toatley's 
truck, investigators also found a set of keys with a key ring that read 
"Kofi." The keys fit the ignition of the suspect's Mercedes, court records 
said.

A twice-convicted drug dealer, Orleans-Lindsay was supposed to be under the 
supervision of a new probation program when Toatley was killed. Known as 
Break the Cycle, the state program mixes escalating punishments with 
intensive drug testing and addiction treatment. Repeat offenders are 
supposed to face arrest and imprisonment, but an internal audit has shown 
that fewer than half of the offenders attend the drug treatment programs.

Orleans-Lindsay violated probation 72 times after his June 3, 1999, 
sentencing. The probation agent charged him with failing to report and 
testing positive for drugs on numerous occasions. But an arrest warrant 
application was not filed in court until two days after Toatley's shooting. 
The agent, Gisele Longchamp, was suspended for 10 days.

Troopers greeted news of the arrest with relief. "Nobody's elated, of 
course. And everybody's relieved," said 1st Sgt. Michael Hawkins, of the 
Prince Frederick County barracks. "There's been a lot of sleepless nights 
for a lot of people."

"To tell the truth, I felt like I won the lottery," said Trooper 1st Class 
Cynthia Brown, secretary of the Coalition of Black Maryland State Troopers. 
"Then the sadness crept in--because you can catch as many murderers as you 
want, but Toatley's not coming back."

Orleans-Lindsay's family had urged him to turn himself in, and yesterday, 
they, too, expressed relief. "I'm just glad it's over and nobody else got 
hurt," said Evelyn McRoy, 52, the mother of Orlean-Lindsay's ex-girlfriend, 
Karrie.

Karrie McRoy and Orleans-Lindsay have a 2-year-old girl and a 10-month-old 
boy. Karrie McRoy, whose relationship with Orleans-Lindsay ended about a 
year ago, had filed a paternity suit against him about eight months ago. 
Evelyn McRoy said that yesterday, her granddaughter shouted, "Daddy!" when 
Orleans-Lindsay's picture flashed on the television.

The little girl asked when her father was coming back, but Evelyn McRoy 
couldn't bear to tell the toddler the truth. "I wouldn't have done that to 
her," she said. "She loves her daddy."

Staff writers David Fahrenthold, Phuong Ly and special correspondent 
Christine Haughney in New York City contributed to this report.
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