Cold case solved

Staff

Published Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Photo by Allison T. Williams

Betty Goodman, the grandmother of murder victim Domoniky Mizzelle, (center) holds a picture of her grandson. She is surrounded by her great-grandson, Vernetez Warren, 5, and her granddaughter Paradise Wilkins.

A computer analyst in Northern Virginia was arrested at work Tuesday and charged with the February 1994 shooting death of 15-year-old Domoniky Mizzelle.

Alim Naqi An’nur, 32, who is also known as Shane Whitfield, is charged with first degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of murder, shooting from a vehicle and shoot, cut, stab or wound. A grand jury handed down sealed indictments charging him with the crimes last week.

An’nur being held without bond in an Alexandria jail, although he is expected to transported to Suffolk on Friday.

Mizzelle was found shot in the head on the corner of Factory Street and Kissimmee Avenue in February 1994, according to a city press release. Detectives turned up few leads at the time, leaving the case unsolved until a witness stepped up in July and named four people who saw An’nur fire the gun, said Detective Gary Myrick, the newly-named head of the Suffolk Police Department’s Cold Case Unit.

All four witnesses corroborated the story and identified physical evidence linking An’nur to the scene, Myrick said.

Mizzelle was shot after a drug sale went bad, according to Myrick.

He said An’nur had apparently given Mizzelle money to buy marijuana for him. When the boy never showed up to deliver the narcotics, An’nur got in a different car, drove to the corner where Mizzelle was standing and fired the gun once, Myrick said.

An’nur was on a smoke break when he was taken into custody by Myrick and the Fairfax County Police Department Tuesday morning.

“He was stunned,” said Myrick. “…And Domoniky’s mother was elated when we told her this morning.

“I feel like I was able to give her a little piece of her son back.”

Paradise Wilkins, who was 5 when her older brother was killed, says she broke into tears when Myrick showed up on the family’s Webb Street doorstep with the news Wednesday morning.

“I still can’t believe it,” said Wilkins, now 21. “He can finally rest in peace.”

Mizzelle, a rising eighth grader at Forest Glen Middle School when he died, was a good brother who spoiled his younger sister and grandmother, Wilkins said.

He loved playing video games and cooking, said his grandmother, Betty Goodman.

“He was a swell cook,” Goodman said, adding that her grandson was particularly fond of baking cookies for friends and often fixed her hot dogs and french fries.

After learning of An’nur’s arrest, Goodman said she and several family members visited Mizzelle’s grave.

“It’s been hard,” said Goodman. “It’s sad but at least we feel a little more settled. Now at least we know who did it and why he did it.”

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