By Henri E. Cauvin and Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 11, 2006; B01
Two of the men accused of killing a young British activist in Georgetown over the weekend had been identified by police as suspects in at least two recent holdups in the area, authorities said yesterday.
Police were far enough into their investigation of those crimes that they had an address to check after the slaying of 27-year-old Alan Senitt: an apartment building on Robinson Place, a dead-end street in Southeast Washington.
It was there, police said yesterday, that the two men were found early Sunday, just hours after the crime -- one still wearing a blood-stained shirt and carrying a card with Senitt's identification. The men, Christopher Piper, 25, and Jeffrey Rice, 22, are among four suspects charged with murder.
New details emerged about the attack, which that took place about 2 a.m. Sunday at 31st and Q streets NW and created an air of vulnerability in one of the city's most affluent areas. In charging documents, police said Rice had told his accomplices before the robbery that he was going to "cut" somebody.
He did exactly that, police said, slitting Senitt's throat as Piper tried to rape Senitt's female companion. The woman, whose name was not released by police because she is considered a witness, was not injured.
After fleeing the scene, the four suspects withdrew money with the woman's bank card, police said. Then they went out to eat at a Wendy's restaurant, authorities said.
"This is one of the most brutal acts I've seen in my 19 years of police work," Cmdr. Andy Solberg said.
He and other officials declined to release specifics about the earlier robberies, saying they were the focus of a grand jury investigation. Police officials said the men were connected to at least two robberies. In one, a stolen credit card was used in an Internet purchase, with the item to be sent to Robinson Place, one law enforcement source said.
Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey credited officers from the 2nd Police District who quickly linked the earlier cases and Senitt's slaying. "The officers did a great job," the chief said. "They played a hunch, and it turned out right."
But some Georgetown residents raised questions at a community meeting last night, asking why police had not gotten the men off the streets before the killing.
"I can give you my 100 percent word everything was done within the confines of the law," said Lt. Robert Glover of the police department's violent crimes branch. "We cannot make an arrest without probable cause."
A Jewish activist and an aspiring British politician, Senitt had moved to the United States to study political fundraising and to volunteer for former Virginia governor Mark R. Warner's potential presidential campaign.
Police said Senitt was escorting his companion home when the couple were confronted by Piper, Rice and a 15-year-old youth, who has been charged as a juvenile and whose name has not been released.
Piper, who had a gun, went after the woman, Detective Paul C. Regan testified yesterday in a hearing for the youngest suspect.
Senitt was wounded but apparently thought the couple could escape further harm if they surrendered their valuables. Regan testified that Senitt told the woman to give the robbers her purse. "They just stabbed me!" Senitt shouted, according to Regan.
So she threw down her purse, which was scooped up by the 15-year-old, Regan testified.
Then Rice slit Senitt's throat, police said. The three fled and met up with the fourth suspect, Olivia Miles, 26, who is accused of being the getaway driver.
Detectives investigating the earlier robberies realized that the suspects' descriptions in the killing were similar and filled in homicide detectives, leading them to the address in the 2700 block of Robinson Place SE.
After police found Piper and Rice there, Rice said he needed to put on pants. But when he did, he also tried to stuff Senitt's identification and the woman's cellphone into his pockets, authorities said.
Rice was arrested, and he implicated Piper, Miles and the juvenile in the case. Later, at Miles's Northeast Washington home, detectives found the car they believe was used in the robbery. Miles and the 15-year-old were asked to come in for questioning, and when they did, they were arrested.
It was Miles who, under police questioning, said Rice was intent on cutting someone. Piper and Rice gave police statements in which they admitted taking part in the robbery, according to the charging documents. Piper told police that Rice stabbed Senitt, and Rice said Piper did it, the documents said.
Piper also told authorities where they could find a diamond necklace that had been in the woman's purse. According to the charging papers, he said he discarded it in a police car after authorities took him away for questioning.
After hearings late yesterday in D.C. Superior Court, the juvenile was ordered held in secure detention, and the three adults were held without bail.
While the court proceedings unfolded, people in Georgetown tried to come to terms with a rare homicide.
"Everybody is feeling shocked and vulnerable right now," said Ed Solomon, an advisory neighborhood commissioner for the area. "People are talking, and they want to be reassured that they can still walk the streets, and I believe they can."
Some compared the attack to another high-profile homicide in a low-crime neighborhood, the Jan. 6 fatal assault on former New York Times editor David Rosenbaum in upper Northwest. Many said the two incidents only prove the obvious: that something terrible can occur in any part of the city.
"It's shocking, but you know, when you have criminals with cars, it can happen anywhere," said Elaine Crockett, a retired lawyer who lives at 31st and Q streets NW.
D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), whose district includes the neighborhood, said he fears people have been lulled into a sense of complacency by the low crime rate. Georgetown, Capitol Hill and Adams Morgan -- the District's leading entertainment centers -- are still "inner-city neighborhoods," he said.
"Robberies happen at this time of night because it's when the bars and the movie theaters let out," he said. "Whether you're in Georgetown or Capitol Hill or in Adams Morgan, it's that profile of the person leaving and going to their car -- and the robbers laying in wait for the people to come by."
He said he would give the same advice to anyone in the city: to be aware of surroundings, to lock cars, to avoid using headphones when out at night.
Sara Melendez, walking down nearby Wisconsin Avenue yesterday afternoon, said she won't change her habits. A resident of Rosslyn, she comes to Georgetown "all the time," crossing the Key Bridge for her daily exercise.
"Look, what happened here could happen anywhere in the world," she said, "and if you're going to live in fear, what's the point?"
Staff writers Sue Anne Pressley Montes, Lori Montgomery and Eric M. Weiss contributed to this report.