Tech, Witnesses Lead To Swift Murder Arrest

Several people said they saw someone stab a 49-year-old man during a fight at a Fair Haven intersection. Two separate cameras captured the event on video.

Within three days, the police arrested the suspected murderer.

The alleged murderer (56) appeared in court on Wednesday to answer murder charges in connection with a fatal stabbing that took place at around 1.30pm on Saturday at the intersection of Lloyd and Birge Streets.

The accused did not enter a guilty plea and his case was continued until August 2. He is being held on $2 million bail.

Meanwhile, affidavits in the arrest warrants describe the combination of technology and speed that led to the man's quick arrest. It also partly reflects that police have made more arrests in murder cases, with 15 arrests completed this year, compared to five in the same period last year.

The affidavit, written by Detective Daniel Conklin, details the testimony of two witnesses to the fatal fight. These descriptions correspond to footage of the battle filmed from two perspectives; one was filmed by the city's surveillance camera, the other by a neighboring private home.

According to all these descriptions, the victim, Robert Franklin, got into an argument and then fought with a 56-year-old man who " pulled a knife from his belt" and stabbed Franklin once in the left side of the chest.

Franklin was knocked unconscious by a hydrant at the Lloyd Exchange Crossing. At the same time, the attacker took a sheath from his belt and threw it on the hood of an old red Corvette. A minute later he went to the corner store, bought a beer, then walked out the door and left the scene. His face is clearly shown on camera, as is his stomach tattoo of " Dingel ", which is tattooed through his unbuttoned shirt.

When police arrived, they found a holstered gun, a black baseball cap and a bloody checkered shirt. Witnesses began to be questioned.

Meanwhile, an ambulance took Franklin to Yale New Haven Hospital, where Dr. Adrian Maung pronounced him dead at 2:10 p.m.

The police soon learned that the alleged killer was known in the community as " Homi". A search of the name on the department's OpCenter system turned up a suspect " who appeared to match the physical characteristics of the person seen in the security video," Conklin wrote. Conklin added that he knew police suspected Homi of stabbing him in the same corner on May 5, a fact he confirmed with the lead detective in that separate investigation.

A state prison officer assigned to the NHPD's Criminal Investigations Unit gave Conklin " numerous photographs" of Homi while he was previously incarcerated; The photos show the same Dingel tattoo seen on the security video, Conklin writes.

The probation officer who monitored Him for a year also confirmed that he is the person in the video.

Based on this information, a judge signed an arrest warrant for Homi on Tuesday, and police arrested him the same day.

Police Chief Carl Jacobson said in addition to the probable cause listed in the warrant, investigators are awaiting the results of DNA tests on physical evidence found at the scene.

He noted that " the officer's ability to communicate with the public" provided important initial clues that would help detectives in their future work. He noted that Conklin, the lead detective on the case, has a success rate of more than 80 percent on cases assigned to him, one of the highest rates in the department.

" He's a great scout," Jacobson said of Conklin. " He works very hard on murders."

A 13-year-old teenager has been arrested in connection with the murder of a first-year student from Barnard College.