MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — A man was arrested Tuesday in Laurel in connection with the 1995 murder of a DC Metropolitan Police officer, a development in a case which has gone unresolved for nearly three decades to the month.
Amir Jalil Ali, 62, who previously went by the name Kenneth Burnell Wonsom, was taken into custody and is charged with first degree murder. He is accused of killing 24-year-old DC Metropolitan Police Officer Denna Campbell, who was shot five times in her White Oak apartment on September 16, 1995.
"This arrest closes one of the longest-standing cold cases for our department," Montgomery County Police Chief Marc Yamada told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
Ali was Campbell's boyfriend and lived with her at the time of the murder. He was initially charged in 1995, but those charges were dropped. Nearly 30 years later, detectives revisited the case, re-examining evidence and reviewing details from the original files.
"While this arrest won't erase the pain of losing Denna, we hope that it does bring some resolution and sense of peace to everyone involved," Yamada added.
According to charging documents, investigators found several elements establishing probable cause, including statements that Campbell feared her boyfriend, DNA lab results, and witness testimony of hearing a male voice yell, "I told you not to do this to me" when the shots were fired.
That night, Ali, then known as Wonsom, had picked up Campbell from her part-time security job at a McDonald's. According to the document, Wonsom stated he had left the apartment just after 3 a.m., went to a closed strip club, then to a closed seafood establishment, then to a closed CVS, then an open one, and left a message to Campbell stating he was getting Listerine and soda, asking if she needed anything from the store.
Wonsom, who initially called 911 around 5 a.m., agreed to a police interview.
"Although initially cooperative," the charging document reads, "Wonsom became uncooperative and combative with police - going so far as to tell detectives that if they tried to collect his clothing (which had blood evidence), that he would 'sink his teeth into their chest and make them regret this day.' Once Wonsom's clothing was collected, police noted scratch marks across Wonsom's back - as well as the large rip across his t-shirt."
In the document, investigators doubt Ali's story, pointing out inconsistencies in his reasoning for leaving the apartment. The items he purportedly wanted to pick up were already at the apartment, for example.
"Police interviewed an additional Washington DC Metropolitan Police Officer," the documents continue, "who advised that on or about September 12, 1995, they were working in an undercover capacity at The Foxy Playground strip club in Washington, DC and had an encounter with Wonsom in which Wonsom stated, in part, 'I'm [expletive] a DC police officer. I think she is [expletive] another police officer. I'm going to kill them both.'"
Montgomery County Police announce arrest of suspect connected to 1995 murder of DC officer
Campbell had reportedly been telling coworkers Wonsom had 'put his hand on her' and she needed to end the relationship.
Campbell, according to the August document, "told another police officer that she was planning to leave Wonsom as recently as three (3) days prior to her being murdered - in this instance, Denna Campbell stated, 'If I don't show up for work Saturday, you'll know he killed me and buried me somewhere.' Campbell went on to tell this same police officer, in part, 'If something happens to me, I want you to tell the police.' Denna Campbell was murdered within a few days of making this statement."
There were no obvious signs of forced entry into the apartment with locks intact, police said.
"[Campbell] was not only wrapped in her comforter, but also had a wrap around her head which covered the gunshot entry wounds," the charging document said.
Though Campbell's mother passed some years ago, Detective Paula Hamill, who signed the charging documents, said she spoke with Campbell's father recently.
"The only words that he could get out were, 'Thank God,'" Hamill said.
In 1992, leadership commended her for pulling four people from a burning van on Pennsylvania Avenue in the District.
"In her four years with our department, officer Campbell already proved herself to be a hero in the community she served," said Executive Assistant Chief Andre Wright of DC Metropolitan Police.
Campbell had a promising career ahead of her, Wright added.
Campbell's department-issued handgun, which was missing from her apartment at the time of her murder, has still not been recovered, police said.
Ali is scheduled to appear in court again on Friday, August 29.
