Howard University student ordered held on kidnapping charge
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Version 0 of 1. A Howard University student has been ordered held in jail on charges that he kidnapped a fellow student this past weekend after a drug deal went awry, according to authorities. In addition to being charged with kidnapping, the suspect, Adam Murray, 24, faces charges of possessing a firearm during a crime of violence and possession with intent to distribute drugs. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Thursday. An arrest affidavit says that police searched the home Murray rented just off the Northwest Washington campus in the 200 block of Elm Street NW and found amphetamines, 22 pounds of marijuana, a shotgun, a semiautomatic handgun and 48 rounds of .40-caliber ammunition. A spokeswoman for Howard University referred questions about the case to D.C. police. “The University is aware of the incident and is investigating this matter accordingly,” said Crystal Brown, a university vice president and chief communications officer. Murray’s attorney, Samuel A. Bogash, questioned several aspects of the police account and said the four-page arrest affidavit “appears to be internally inconsistent” — such as saying investigators found a .38-caliber gun and .40-caliber bullets. Noting that five people live in the house and that others visit, he asked how police could tie the drugs and guns to his client. Bogash also said that “the complainant herself appears to have set up this drug deal that went bad. She doesn’t have clean hands.” The lawyer questioned the idea that she had been held against her will. Bogash said his client has no criminal record and has been barred from campus. D.C. police were called to the house at least seven times since 2014 for burglaries, break-ins and a party in which a woman passed out outside after using synthetic marijuana, according to police reports. The single-family house is owned by Aprille J. Ericsson, an adjunct professor in the university’s engineering department who served on Howard’s Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2010. In an interview Monday, before the detailed police affidavit was made public, Ericsson said she regarded Murray as a “nice young man” who paid his rent on time. “He’s a good kid,” she said. “It’s a sad situation.” Ericsson did not respond to an interview request on Tuesday. D.C. police said in the affidavit that the incident began Thursday when Murray met up with a female student who had a friend who wanted marijuana. The female student arranged a meeting. Murray drove the student to a parking lot and gave her marijuana to sell, the affidavit says. The student returned and told Murray that she had been robbed of the drugs, according to the affidavit. Murray did not believe her and took her to the house, where, the affidavit says, “she wasn’t free to leave until he was paid the $800 for the marijuana.” Police said the student initially did not feel threatened, thinking they would come to some understanding. The next day, police said, a friend of the female student’s came by to make sure the student was safe. Authorities said that person was free to leave. “The witness stayed with the [student] . . . acting like a buffer to keep the situation from getting out of control,” the affidavit says. Later, the student told police that “she became increasingly scared as the defendant continued to indicated to her that she was not free to leave until the situation was handled.” At one point, police said, Murray told the student she could pay half of what the drugs were worth, or $400. The student’s friend told police she saw guns in the house and that the suspect continued to sell drugs to other people. Police went to the house about 10:20 p.m. Saturday. Noting that the alleged drug deal was allegedly set up and carried out by the woman who later said she was held captive, Bogash said, “I just want to know more about her.” He said the affidavit does not say the woman was threatened but that she felt threatened. “Whatever fear she expressed was subjective,” the attorney said. |