BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — On the evening of October 15, 2018, Detective Corporal Dominic Bridges of the Baltimore County Police Department got the call that would launch an investigation he's still pursuing today.
"This is a really unfortunate case, and one that, just a little more information could really change things for the investigation," Bridges said.
Derme had only been in the United States for two years, living in Baltimore City and working to deliver food. He sent the majority of what he earned back home to his family, including his two daughters, in Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa.
"So he's out doing deliveries," Bridges described, "unfortunately goes to the wrong house and he turned around to go back to his car, which he had left running. It was a cold night. Someone was actively stealing his car."
The deadly encounter happened on Vanderwood Road in Catonsville, just inside the inner loop of the Beltway. After a brief scuffle, Derme was shot and killed, and his Honda Accord was stolen. Years later, his car was found in an alleyway in Federal Hill in Baltimore City.
"He had some really close friends, people that cared about him. People that were really hurt by this, and just couldn't understand because of the type his nature was, you know, a peaceful guy, working hard," Bridges said.
The detective has explored every possibility over the years. Was it personal? Was it premeditated? Bridges is increasingly convinced this wasn't a planned carjacking but rather a crime of opportunity — a chance to steal an unlocked, running car that went tragically wrong.
"There really was a limited amount of physical evidence present because of the brief interaction, but there was definitively something left behind by the offender and that likely has DNA on it. Over the years, we've tested it and, we're hoping that as DNA and forensic technology improves, this is something that we'll be able to actually recover something useful from," Bridges said.
Now, seven years later, Bridges is hoping for more witness testimony, which may be what finally cracks this cold case.
"We need people to do the difficult thing of coming forward and saying, hey, here's what I know," Bridges said.
If you have any information that could help solve Idrissa Derme's murder, please call Baltimore County Police homicide investigators at 410-887-3943.
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