Tracing Links to A Deadly D.C. Heist

Testimony Details Search for Suspects

After they were arrested, the two men charged with participating in a deadly robbery this month in Georgetown admitted playing roles in two other recent armed robberies in the District, an investigator testified yesterday in D.C. Superior Court.

A credit card stolen in one of those earlier robberies was found with the discarded purse of the woman who was robbed July 9 in Georgetown and whose companion was killed in the holdup, said the investigator, D.C. homicide detective Douglas Carlson.

Alan Senitt, a 27-year-old British activist, and the woman were returning from a movie about 2:30 a.m. when they were confronted by three people in the driveway of a Q Street NW home, Carlson said.

Armed with what police think was a pellet gun, one of the attackers pulled the woman away from Senitt, groped her and demanded her valuables. The other two assailants accosted Senitt, who tried to break free to aid his friend. But he could not escape the robbers, Carlson testified, and one stabbed him and slit his throat.

Police have been exploring the possibility that the same people charged with murder in the killing in Georgetown -- Christopher Piper, Jeffrey Rice, Olivia Miles and a 15-year-old -- might be responsible for earlier robberies in the area. Miles is accused of driving the getaway car in Senitt's killing.

The testimony, during a preliminary hearing for Piper, 25, and Rice, 23, showed how police are making a possible connection between the crimes.

Investigators had the street address of three of the robbery suspects before Senitt's killing, and some neighbors have said the lead was not pursued aggressively.

New details provided yesterday in court and from a law enforcement official suggest that the trail -- which began with an online purchase with a stolen credit card -- might not have been so clear. Investigators were thrown off for a while by an apparently misaddressed shipment. The official was interviewed on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

The purchase, using a card stolen in a June 11 holdup, was to be sent to the same Southeast Washington apartment building where Piper and Rice live, Carlson said. But the package wasn't addressed to their apartment, the detective said. Instead, it was addressed to another apartment in the building, on Robinson Place SE, he said.

An occupant of that apartment was placed under investigation, a law enforcement official said, while police and prosecutors attempted to build a case against him. Authorities planned to show the June 11 victim a photo spread to see whether she could identify him.

But then, the official said, another piece of evidence came in: surveillance footage from a convenience store where the credit card of another robbery victim was used. When police looked at the image, about a week before Senitt was killed, they did not see the person from Robinson Place whom they had been investigating, the official said.

They saw three people they didn't know at the time: Piper, Rice and Miles. Something wasn't right, so the plans for the photo spread were scrapped.