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Delaware State Police
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Two Charged with Murder of Newark Man Released Friday, August 15, 2008 Newark- On Wednesday, August 13, 2008, Delaware State Police made an arrest of two individuals in the murder and robbery of Kanubhai Patel, 46-year old male, of Christiana Road on Saturday, August 9th, 2008, in the parking lot of the Christiana Skating Center located at 801 Christiana Road. As previously reported, this investigation revealed that the victim was walking to his place of employment, The Dunkin Donuts, also located on Christiana Road, between the hours of 4:00 and 5:35 am. The suspects, later identified as Dominique A. Earl, 19, of the 600 Block of Capitol Trail and Kason M. Horta, 22, of Teal Circle, Newark, robbed and subsequently shot the 46-year old victim at random. The victim succumbed to his injuries. At the crime scene, personal property belonging to the victim was located scattered around the victim’s body. A Delaware State Police Evidence Technician recovered this property and was able to successfully lift a latent fingerprint from a specific piece of an item recovered. One of the forensic latent examiners at the State Bureau of Identification examined the latent fingerprint. A positive comparison was found to match a fingerprint revealing the identity of Mr. Horta linking him to the crime scene. In addition to the fingerprint hit, the victim’s cellular phone that was taken by the suspects, led investigators to obtain phone records. These records helped investigators link both Mr. Horta and Mr. Earl to being in possession of the phone. As the investigation progressed, it was learned that Mr. Earl frequented the area of the Kimberton Development. Members of the DSP Street Crimes Unit, along with the New Castle County Police Department, responded to the area to conduct surveillance, at which time Mr. Earl was located and taken into custody at approximately 5:00 pm on Wednesday, August 13, without incident. Mr. Horta had responded to Probation and Parole for a scheduled appointment, at approximately 1:00 pm on Wednesday, August 13, at which time State Police Homicide Detectives responded and took him into custody without incident. Yesterday, Thursday, August 14, 2008, both Mr. Horta and Mr. Earl were arrested and charged with the following felonies: Murder in 1st Degree, Robbery 1st Degree, Possession of a Firearm during the Commission of a Felony, Possession of a Deadly Weapon (Firearm) By Person Prohibited and Conspiracy in 1st Degree. Both were committed to Howard Young Correctional Center without bail. Note: A forensic examination conducted on ballistic evidence recovered at the crime scene has been positively linked to ballistic evidence recovered from other crime scenes. Because these are on-going criminal investigations, there will be no additional details released at the present time.
Earl
Horta
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