It's hard to imagine a screwdriver being thrust into a person's head with such force that it penetrates all the way into the brain. One such blow is bad enough. A government document, however, referred to "stab wounds . . . with penetrations of the brain." Michele L. Gehrke put the number of head stabs at more than 25, with the last blow to the back of the head in the brain stem. She was talking about her cousin, Dennis Dolinger, who was murdered in the basement of his home in the 1500 block of Potomac Avenue SE on the afternoon of Friday, June 4, 1999. It was a horrible way to die. He was so alone.
Not at his funeral, however, which was attended by 150 mourners, including the city's political glitterati, according to a Post news story. Dolinger was an advisory neighborhood commissioner and a community activist who lived on the eastern edge of Capitol Hill. He was in charge of the neighborhood Orange Hat Patrol and was a high-profile walking terror against drug dealers. Call a meeting about guns and drugs, and he was there. And so the famous were there for his services: Mayor Anthony Williams, former mayor and now Ward 8 D.C. Council member Marion Barry, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Dolinger's council representative, Sharon Ambrose of Ward 6.
Nice words spoken. Eyes wet with tears. Calls for justice. All the usual. That was nearly six years ago. Today, there is no justice for Dennis Dolinger and no peace for those who loved him. Justice has been on holiday since the day officers from the 1st Police District found him dead.
That's odd, too, because the trail has never really turned cold.
A blood trail plain as day was found leading from the basement where Dolinger was discovered to the first- and second-floors of his house and to the front walkway and sidewalk. Bloody clothing was found in the basement and in a room on the second floor. Authorities also later learned that Dolinger's wallet, possibly containing cash and credit cards, was taken, and his diamond ring and gold chain were missing.
The police later found and arrested a man who had made several purchases with Dolinger's credit card. But after determining that blood from an unknown person at the scene of Dolinger's slaying did not match that of the man with Dolinger's credit card, authorities dropped a felony murder charge and released him from jail.
The trail remained warm. Six months later, in November 1999, the DNA profile of the unknown contributor of the blood evidence was sent to the Virginia Division of Forensic Science. A search of the unknown contributor's profile against the Virginia DNA databank concluded that the profile was consistent with that of Robert P. Garrett. Lo and behold, law enforcement records revealed that Robert P. Garrett was an alias used by Raymond Anthony Jenkins, who was serving time in Lorton for second-degree burglary -- a sentence imposed following his arrest in July 1999, a few weeks after Dolinger was murdered.
On Nov. 18, 1999, police interviewed a witness who reported that on the day after Dolinger's death Jenkins had several items of jewelry, including a ring with some diamonds and some gold chains, and more than $1,000 in cash. Jenkins also appeared to have numerous scratches or cuts to his face, according to government documents.
Seven days later the police executed a search warrant on Jenkins for blood samples. The samples were sent to the FBI's forensic science lab for comparison. In late December 1999, Jenkins's blood samples were analyzed and, according to a police affidavit, "positively identified as being the same DNA profile as that of the DNA profile of the unknown blood evidence that was recovered from the scene of the homicide." The FBI analysis identified Jenkins's blood on a pair of jeans found in the basement near Dolinger, a shirt found in the upstairs exercise room, a towel on the basement bathroom rack, the sink stopper in the sink of the same bathroom and a railing between the first and second floors of the residence. Based on that information, an arrest warrant was issued, and Jenkins was arrested on Jan. 13, 2000.
June 4 will mark the sixth anniversary of Dennis Dolinger's ghastly murder, and no one has yet been brought to justice.
How can that be?
For starters, the wheels of justice have moved in fits and starts. The trial of Raymond Jenkins has been postponed at least eight times. Lawyers on both sides have changed. The family said the case has had about five or six different prosecutors.
