Portland murder suspect tied to 1994 California murder

Detectives said today that DNA testing has tied a 27-year-old man accused of fatally beating and dumping a woman's body in Northeast Portland last month to an unsolved killing 12 1/2 years ago of a high school sophomore who was shot in the head and left half-naked on the grounds of an elementary school outside of Oakland, Calif.

DNA evidence linked Imani Charles Williams to the killing of 15-year-old girl Evelyna LeBlanc, who was sexually assaulted, shot in the head and left bleeding on the grade school grounds in San Leandro, Calif., on Nov. 5, 1994.

The girl's mother, Arlene LeBlanc-Gibson, said today that she never gave up hope that police would catch a suspect in her daughter's killing.

"I have a picture of my daughter in the living room here," LeBlanc-Gibson, 57, said from her Oakland home. "I would always tell her every day, 'We'll get him baby .¤.¤. just send me some signs.'¤"

Williams, who was 14 and attending a Catholic high school in Oakland at the time of the California killing, was arrested in Portland on April 20 in the killing of Sharvettia Monique Brown. Brown, 37, died April 14 of blunt force trauma and was found in the 1800 block of Northeast Lombard Street about 4:17 a.m.

California authorities now intend to charge Williams in LeBlanc's killing. When they heard of the DNA match, news spread quickly among the many San Leandro investigators who had handled the LeBlanc case over the years.

"It sent chills up your spine. It was very satisfying," San Leandro Lt. Tom Overton said. " I was honored to be able to meet with Evelyena's mother and stepfather, and give them the news."

Police said Evelyena's mother kept her daughter's case in the spotlight, through local newspaper stories, a governor's reward for information, and a billboard with her daughter's photo put up last year on a local highway.

Months before Brown's killing, Portland detectives were investigating links through DNA evidence between a Feb. 4, 2006, residential burglary on Northeast Bryant Street, a March 17, 2006, stabbing in the head of a woman on a Northeast Portland street, and the November 1994 killing of LeBlanc in California.

In January, Portland homicide Detective Molly Daul was alerted that DNA linked the three crimes together and was assigned to investigate the Portland cases to come up with suspect information.

Meanwhile, two other Portland homicide detectives were called out on April 14 to Brown's body. At 4:07 a.m., a person reported hearing screaming and saw a man beating a woman in the 1000 block of Northeast Stafford Street. Ten minutes later, Brown's body was found blocks away. Police recovered a stolen white Toyota pickup they suspect Brown was driving at the time of the fatal assault.

With witness help, homicide Detectives Jon Rhodes and Lynn Courtney working Brown's case came up with a possible suspect name. The partners consulted with Daul, who found similarities between Brown's brutal beating and the violent stabbing of the Portland woman last spring.

"Both attacks were 'overkill.' There was just an extreme amount of violence, and this guy's first name was unusual," Rhodes said.

Police found out that Williams had provided a DNA sample to the state for a prior felony conviction but the sample hadn't been analyzed or entered into the state's DNA database. Maul called the Oregon State crime lab and asked officials to "move his sample forward in the pool to be tested," Rhodes said.

Once it was tested, Williams' DNA profile matched the DNA evidence from the unsolved 1994 California homicide as well as Brown's killing. It also matched DNA evidence taken from a discarded cigarette butt from the February 2006 residential Portland burglary and a shoe left behind from the March 2006 assault of a Portland woman.

"He actually ran out of one of his shoes when he was running away from the scene, chased off by a witness who came out of a bar and saw the assault going on," said Overton of the San Leandro Police Department.

Appearing in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Tuesday, Williams pleaded not guilty to a nine-count indictment in Brown's killing from last month. He faces two counts of aggravated murder, plus charges of murder, kidnapping, first-degree robbery and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He also was indicted on attempted murder and first-degree assault in the stabbing of a woman who survived the March 17, 2006, attack, and first-degree burglary for the February 2006 residential break-in.

Williams has a history of drug abuse and prior convictions in Multnomah County for theft, criminal mischief and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, as well as at least 11 failures to appear in court since November 2005. Williams, in court records, told authorities he came to Portland from California in November 2005, was kicked out of his aunt's house because of drug use and has been unemployed.

It's not clear what prior felony case prompted Williams to have to submit his DNA to the state, but crime lab officials say they face a two-year backlog in analyzing the pool of DNA samples arriving from convicted offenders. Of about 105,000 samples collected, about 72,000 have been analyzed, said Randi Wampler, operations manager for the state police forensic service division.

In California, LeBlanc-Gibson said her daughter's sudden, violent death was heart-wrenching, but she never gave up hope that the case would be solved.

"I had to keep my head up. Even though my heart was hurting, I couldn't show it," she said. "I always tried to keep a positive outlook, because that was my baby, and I wasn't going to let it go."