ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
CHARLOTTE, N.C., POLICE say they made a mistake in the search for a man now charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend in Roanoke and the shooting death
Two days after Aquilia Marcibicci Barnette was charged with the firebombing of his ex-girlfriend's Northeast Roanoke apartment, police in Charlotte, N.C., received a request to look for him.
Roanoke police believed Barnette was on his way to his mother's house in Charlotte. But when a patrol officer there checked out the address May 2, he couldn't find it. He told Roanoke police the address was incorrect.
"That was a mistake. It was a good address," said Capt. Matt Hunter of the crimes against persons division in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
On Saturday, Barnette's ex-girlfriend, Robin Williams, was gunned down outside her mother's house in Northwest Roanoke. Barnette, 22, was charged with her murder. After getting a tip from a relative, the FBI arrested him earlier this week at the same place police believed he was headed after the April 30 firebombing: his mother's house in Charlotte.
Hunter said he is now in the middle of an internal investigation to find out exactly what went wrong.
It is unclear what happened after Roanoke police were told that Barnette's mother's address was not right. Lt. William Beason Jr., whose division investigated the case, refused to comment.
The admission of error by Charlotte police comes after Williams' family and friends accused police of not doing enough to find Barnette.
As Williams recuperated in the hospital from burns she suffered in the firebombing, she gave police Barnette's address in Charlotte, according to her mother, Bertha Williams.
"But the [Roanoke] police said there was no communication with Charlotte," Williams' mother said Tuesday.
After FBI agents took Barnette into custody Tuesday, Charlotte police charged him with the killing and robbery of a 22-year-old South Carolina man. Donald Allen had been missing since June 21.
Police recovered Allen's dark blue Honda Prelude Monday night in a Charlotte parking lot. They found a shotgun in a trash bin nearby.
Tuesday afternoon, investigators found Allen's body in a wooded area near the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. He had been shot.
Police believe Barnette carjacked Allen, shot him, then drove his car to Roanoke on Saturday. Witnesses said they saw Barnette driving away from the crime scene in a car that matched the description of Allen's stolen Prelude.
Barnette remains in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Jail. The North Carolina murder charge is a capital offense, but whether prosecutors there will seek the death penalty was unclear Thursday.
Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell said Wednesday that if North Carolina proceeds with the capital case, he would be willing to put the Roanoke charges on hold.
Robin Williams' slaying was the fifth homicide in the city this year, and the second domestic-related killing. Thomas Spivey was stabbed to death in May. His live-in girlfriend, Joyce Ann Mohadess, 41, has been charged with his murder.
Staff writer Laurence Hammack contributed information to this story.
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