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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Detroitistan: Scandal-ridden mayor is now facing new allegations in stripper's killing |
| 2008-03-11 |
| Name that party? HT to AOSHQ! In a city that routinely sees more than 400 murders a year, the 2003 slaying of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene was an easily overlooked crime. Few people initially took notice when the 27-year-old stripper was found slumped over the steering wheel of her green Buick Skylark. But soon the city was buzzing with rumors that she had danced at a party at the mayor's mansion--a story that never has been proved. The investigation into the rumored party and her death helped launch Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick's avalanche of current woes, but nearly five years later, Greene's death has been overshadowed by recent revelations of an affair between the mayor and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty. The scandal, complete with text-messaged endearments, has been fueled by reports that Kilpatrick and Beatty lied about the affair while testifying last year. Now Greene's death in April 2003 is emerging as a key story line in the city's civic soap opera. Lawyers for Tamara Greene's 14-year-old son are pushing forward with a $150 million federal civil lawsuit against the mayor and the city, for allegedly quashing the investigation of her slaying. They recently filed a statement from a former Detroit police officer alleging that his homicide unit was pressured to drop the case, even though it appeared to him that Greene's death was a hit -- one possibly carried out by another police officer. They also have subpoenaed a slew of text-messages among city employees, including those sent between 1:30 and 5:30 a.m. on the day Greene was killed. The city is petitioning for the case to be dismissed. A federal judge ordered SkyTel and the city to save certain messages from 42 city pagers, including Kilpatrick's, as well as all messages sent on the day Greene died. The sordid tale of Greene's slaying revolves around the rumored party at Manoogian Mansion, the official residence of the mayor. Court documents lay out the following sequence of events: An officer with the Executive Protection Unit reported that a party for the mayor and his friends had taken place and " ... the party featured nude female dancers," according to a 2003 internal affairs memo commissioned by Police Deputy Chief Gary A. Brown. The unit handles security for the mayor. When the mayor's wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, unexpectedly arrived at the mansion, she saw her husband and the strippers, according to the officer who reported about the party, Harold Nelthrope. Nelthrope, who was not at the alleged event but learned about it the following day, "further stated that a fight ensued between Ms. Kilpatrick and a dancer and that the dancer received injuries requiring medical attention." Nelthrope does not say who told him about the alleged events. The dancer -- believed to be Greene -- was taken to a hospital, " ... and the Executive Protection Unit confiscated all activity log sheets (from the police precinct that responded)," Nelthrope said. The mayor, who declined to comment for this story, has denied that the party and the alleged assault took place. (Carlita Kilpatrick also declined to comment.) So, too, have Detroit police officials -- at least publicly. A state investigation resulted in Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox dismissing such claims as urban legend. "They have no eyewitnesses, no caterers, not one person that said they were there that has been named," said attorney Mayer Morganroth, who is defending the city and the mayor in the lawsuit filed on behalf of Greene's son, Jonathan Bond. |
| Posted by:Frank G |