Cracking two murder cases, BPD homicide investigators made three arrests in the last 24 hours.

In connection with the murder of 29-year-old Urel Duncan last year, Shawn ”Shanks” Daughtry, 27, and Demetrius ”Demeet” Wardsworth, 19, both of Roxbury, were nabbed today after a lengthy grand jury investigation.

Both men are expected to be arraigned tomorrow in Roxbury District Court on murder and other related charges.

As noted by UniversalHub, Wardsworth was already on the hook for a Dorchester incident in June.

Also raising BPD’s homicide clearance rate is the arrest yesterday of Thomas Manning, 22, of Allston.

Via Jake Wark, press secretary for Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley: Manning pleaded not guilty to murder at his Brighton District Court arraignment for the murder of 25-year-old Luis G. Ortiz of Brighton. Judge David T. Donnelly ordered Manning held without bail.

Boston EMS found Ortiz with a single gunshot wound to the chest, sitting in the passenger’s seat of a Mazda 626 at Farrington Avenue and Linden Street shortly after 2 a.m. on March 29. He later died at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

“Investigators soon learned that Manning and Ortiz were known to one another and had been travelling in Manning’s car with another individual when an altercation arose,” according to the Suffolk DA. “Manning later contacted Boston Police homicide detectives and made arrangements to surrender himself last night. In a post-Miranda statement, Manning allegedly made statements indicating that he had been present in the vehicle with the victim and that he had been in fear for his life.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 7:21 pm and is filed under BPD, Breaking News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.