Technology advances may solve slayings
By Michael Kiefer
Arizona Republic
December 15, 2006
Cold case of the week: The headline in the Feb. 14, 1998, edition of The Arizona Republic read: "2 men, 18 and 23, found dead; neighbors suspect drug dealing."
The story began: Two men were found dead Friday at a south-central Phoenix home that neighbors suspect was used to sell large amounts of drugs.
The two men, Revies Braxton and Willie Pounds, were both 22, and police have long thought that Pounds was the intended target of a gang revenge hit. Braxton, his longtime friend, was probably an innocent bystander.
There wasn't much more to go on. Recently, Braxton's father called Phoenix police cold-case detectives to jog their memories. And the current case detective, Tom D'Aguanno, thinks that recent technology may finally help lead to the killers.
"We have over 2,000 unsolved murders in Phoenix," D'Aguanno said, "and it's hard to get to all of them unless somebody brings one to our attention."
When and where: On Feb. 13, 1998, Pounds' sister forced open the door of his apartment on South 21st Street and found both men in the living room, dead of multiple gunshot wounds.
The initial word around the neighborhood described Pounds' place as a drug house. Braxton's father, Revies Braxton Sr., said he heard it had been a robbery.
"You hear so many things on the streets, you know," the elder Braxton said. But at the same time, he said, "Nobody talks too much around there."
And in some neighborhoods, those two statements are not necessarily contradictory.
But as the investigation progressed, it appeared that Pounds was caught up in the gang wars that plagued Phoenix in the late 1990s. He may have been on a gang hit list as retaliation for an earlier murder. Braxton had no gang affiliation but had known Pounds from school.
Braxton's father was surprised. He described his son as quiet and hard-working, with a young son. He was taking classes at South Mountain Community College, and had a job at an airport restaurant.
"I didn't know he was associated with those people," he said. "He was always working. He never missed a day's work."
D'Aguanno said the only suspect in the case was a man identified only by a nickname.
"No one saw anyone," he said. "The only hard evidence they had at the time were some fingerprints and shell casings."
How new technology may help: The fingerprints did not match anyone at the time, but the Phoenix police now have access to a bigger and better database of prints. Investigators knew that all the shell casings came from the same weapon, but they never found that weapon. Since the murders, D'Aguanno said, the police have a new system that can catalog all the ballistics characteristics of those shell casings and compare them against a database. D'Aguanno plans to re-enter the fingerprints and the casing characteristics to see if he can find a killer.
Investigator: D'Aguanno.
How you can help: Anyone with information is asked to contact Phoenix police at (602) 262-6141. Calls also can be made anonymously to Silent Witness at 1-800-343-TIPS.
- Michael Kiefer
The Arizona Republic is teaming with Valley law enforcement investigators to highlight a cold case every week. The hope is that readers with information about a case will call or email / e-mail police or Silent Witness (1-800-343-TIPS) and help solve a crime.