Jul 2, 2009 6:33 pm US/Eastern
Police Investigate Annapolis Double Murder
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) ―
There is new information about a double murder in Annapolis.
Police say a child was in the house when his mother and her boyfriend were murdered and he too was attacked by the killer.
Suzanne Collins reports the 12-year-old hid for hours before alerting a neighbor to the crime.
The quiet Annapolis community is still reeling after the murder of two people inside the home.
Lei Johnson is shot to death and so is her new boyfriend, Samuel Fowlkes.
Annapolis police charge the man who used to date Johnson and still shared the rented house with her.
Police say Elbert Gardner confessed.
The family of victim Sam Fowlkes says his four children are devastated.
"I want to talk to this guy, like why would you want to do that to my father. I want to talk to him," says Demecka Fowlkes, one of the victim's
daughters. "Anybody who knows me knows I love my father more than life itself."
"He never bothered nobody. It's so sad he had to go away like that, I can only be strong for my kids," said Colleen Sharps.
The charging documents say Elbert Gardner attempted to suffocate Johnson's 12-year-old son with a pillow in the hall after the murders.
"Then the boy stayed in his room for some hours until he went out to get help.
I'm not sure if he was afraid the suspect was still in the house," says Ray Weaver, an Annapolis Police spokesman.
The boy waited more than six hours before alerting a neighbor.
According to the court charging documents Elbert Gardner was in the basement when he thought he heard the sounds of lovemaking upstairs.
He told police he got his gun went upstairs and shot the two victims.
Court papers say Gardner shot Mr. Fowlkes one time in the head before shooting Ms. Johnson one time in the chest.
The boy has been taken in by relatives in D.C.
The family members of victim Samuel Fowlkes have printed t-shirts in his memory.
The defendant Elbert Gardner who's 56 does not appear to have any prior criminal record.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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