By Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 20, 2007

A 24-year-old man believed to be the ringleader in the startling, execution-style killings of three college students in Newark will be arraigned today in Prince George's County District Court.

Rodolfo Godinez was arrested early Saturday in Oxon Hill after a fervent and extensive search by Newark and federal authorities that led to the arrest of his 16-year-old half brother later that day in Woodbridge. Early yesterday, Newark police arrested an 18-year-old man in Elizabeth, N.J.

The arrests of the three men marked the end of the search that has gripped the city of Newark and touched the country over the past two weeks. Presidential candidates have mentioned the homicides when talking about crime on the campaign trail.

"Now, the process of healing must take center stage and the prosecution of the case begins," Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker said in a statement yesterday. "This crime will not define our city."

On Aug. 4, siblings Natasha Aeriel, 19, and Terrance Aeriel, 18, and friends Dashon Harvey and Iofemi Hightower, both 20, were forced to kneel against a wall behind an elementary school and shot in the head. Natasha Aeriel survived. She, her brother and Harvey were students at Delaware State University, and Hightower planned to enroll there this fall.

Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy credited local law enforcement authorities in Maryland, Virginia and the District for helping with the arrests. Godinez was found in a fetid, three-bedroom apartment at Riverside Plaza apartments in Oxon Hill; his half brother was arrested about 20 minutes later in the basement of a townhouse at Grist Mill Terrace in Woodbridge.

According to the Star-Ledger of New Jersey, Newark police pieced the case together with the help of MySpace, the social networking Web site, where the 16-year-old suspect had a page. Information on his page revealed that he had left New Jersey and listed friends in Virginia.

Although the page has been removed, The Washington Post has a saved version of it, showing the young man in sunglasses and a bandanna making a gang sign. On the page, he claimed to be a member of Guanacos Little Cycos Salvatruchos, part of the Latino gang MS-13 with ties to Northern Virginia. He noted his occupation as "smoke Piff" and his income as "$250,000 and higher." The page showed that the "last login" was Aug. 5, the day after the killings.

A man who was at the Oxon Hill apartment at the time of Godinez's arrest said Godinez had talked about being a member of MS-13. Newark police and other authorities say, however, that they have found no gang link to the killings.

Detective Todd McClendon said in a news release that "although all of the suspects have now been apprehended this is still an active investigation and there are several details that still must continue to be withheld in order to ensure the integrity of the case."

The news release added that leads developed during the arrests of Godinez and the 16-year-old helped police capture Melvin Jovell of Elizabeth about 3 a.m. yesterday at a relative's home without incident.

Yesterday, the 16-year-old remained in a Prince William County jail, said Officer Erika Hernandez, a spokeswoman for county police. Hernandez said that she did not know when he would be arraigned but that Virginia law requires an arraignment within 10 days of an arrest.

Godinez, who is in the Prince George's Detention Center, will be in court today for extradition and bond hearings, said Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for Prince George's State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey.

Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.