(Miles Archer Redux)
A Call Turns Deadly For Potential Witness
Victim Targeted for Drug Case, Officials Say
By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Andre Hayes's phone rang one October afternoon, and a mysterious woman was
on the line. She had called the wrong number, she told him. But she didn't
hang up. They bantered a bit. They flirted. She said he sounded nice.
Over the next week, they spoke or texted by cellphone more than 100 times.
As he drove to meet her on Halloween night, they chatted for 29 straight
minutes. And then, as he awaited their rendezvous in a dark suburban
driveway, Hayes was shot dead.
It soon became obvious to investigators that the mystery woman had not been
looking for love, according to federal authorities who have recently
detailed Hayes's last days in court papers and at a hearing. In fact, they
allege, she seduced the 32-year-old on behalf of her boyfriend, an accused
drug dealer hoping to eliminate Hayes, a key witness against him in a
federal drug case.
The intimidation and killing of witnesses happens with chilling regularity
in the Washington area, federal and local authorities say. Since early last
year, according to D.C. police sources, at least three witnesses have been
killed on District streets as a result of their cooperation. Two weeks ago,
Prince George's County officials announced that they had obtained
indictments against two brothers on charges of conspiring to kill a crucial
witness to another slaying.
In Hayes's case, a review of court papers and interviews with his friends
and family provide a rare window into what federal prosecutors have
described as a determined effort to eliminate a man whose testimony could
mean years behind bars for an accused drug dealer.
"Andre Hayes went there because he was lured," Assistant U.S. Attorney
Darlene Soltys said at a recent hearing in the District's federal court ...
("Send her in," said Spade, and he shuddered.)
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