The boyfriend of a police officer who was found shot to death in her Maryland apartment nearly 30 years ago has been charged with her murder again, decades after the case against him was previously dropped, authorities said Wednesday.
Officer Denna Fredericka Campbell, 24, was found dead in the White Oak apartment she shared with her boyfriend on Sept. 16, 1995, according to police.
The four-year veteran of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department had been shot five times, police said. Her department-issued handgun was missing from the apartment and was never found, police said.
Her boyfriend, Amir Jalil Ali, told police that he found Campbell unresponsive upon returning from a store, according to the Montgomery County Department of Police. He called 911 to report that his girlfriend had been shot during a burglary, police said.
Ali — who was known by the name Kenneth Burnell Wonsom at the time — was initially charged with murder in 1995, though the case was dropped two months later, police said.
The 62-year-old Ali has been newly charged with first-degree murder in her death, according to Montgomery County Department of Police Chief Marc Yamada. He was taken into custody on Tuesday in Laurel, police said.
“This arrest closes one of the longest-standing cold cases for our department,” Yamada said during a press conference on Wednesday.
“While this arrest won’t erase the pain of losing Denna, we hope that it does bring some resolution or sense of peace,” he added.
Ali is being held in the Montgomery County Detention Center, police said.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said he doesn’t know why his predecessor initially dropped the case against Ali.
“The decision was made not to proceed in that matter,” McCarthy said during Wednesday’s press briefing. “I was not privy to, nor do I know, what the conversation was regarding why the charges were dropped at that point in time.”
McCarthy did say there has been “a lot more detail” developed by the police department’s cold case unit since Ali was initially charged, that “fleshes out this case.” The state’s attorney was unable to go into the specifics of the case ahead of the suspect’s bond hearing.
Montgomery County Detective Paula Hamill said investigators have been reexamining the cold case for the past year or so, including conducting new interviews. Detectives spoke to people who were able to shed light on Campbell’s life and the “fear that she felt at that time and the concerns that she had” about her boyfriend, Hamill said.
Ali’s attorney, Richard Finci, countered in a statement that “little has changed” since the initial case against Ali.
“The prior Indictment was dismissed by the State due to lack of evidence after Mr. Wonsom was detained for a lengthy period of time and little has changed,” Finci said.
Hamill said she was able to speak with Campbell’s father on Tuesday about the arrest.
“The only words that he could get out were, ‘Thank God,'” Hamill said.
Her mother died several years after the deadly shooting, Hamill said.
Campbell had a “promising career” with the DC police department and was already a “hero in the community” before she was killed, D.C. Metropolitan Police Executive Assistant Chief Andre Wright said Wednesday.
“In 1993, she selflessly pulled four victims out of a burning van on Pennsylvania Avenue,” he said. “Her actions that day earned her commendation from MPD leaders and praise from her community.”
Her colleagues remembered her as being “energetic and full of life,” Wright said.
“We recognize that today’s news doesn’t bring Officer Campbell back to her family, our community or our department, but we hope this news can bring some form of closure to all of those who have carried the burden of this tragedy for over three decades,” he said.
