Lanham Murders Called Drug Related

Drugs were the motive for the quadruple slaying that occurred early Friday morning on the 6800 block of Third Street in Lanham, or the unincorporated county area east of Riverdale Park, the police said.

According to Prince George's County Police Chief Roberto L. Hylton, marijuana was found in the structure where the fatal shootings took place. The suspects in custody have admitted to involvement in the murders.

"This was a drug relationship that went very bad," Hylton said at a Saturday morning press conference. "Obviously it has to do with drugs sales, and there was some type of dispute."

It only took police a little more than a day to arrest people in the case.

Hylton said Darrell Lynn Bellard, 43, of Dickinson, Texas, and Tkeisha Nicole Gilmer, 18, of Texas City, Texas, were arrested and charged with first degree murder.

"This was a senseless, cowardly act," he said. "Especially the young kids, they were innocent and not involved."

The victims, who were all shot multiple times, were two women - Dawn Yvette Brooks, 38, and Mwasiti Sikyala, 41, and two children - Shakur Sylvester Sikyala, 4, and Shayla Shante Sikyala, 3, all of Lanham. The boy would have celebrate his fifth birthday next week. Brooks is the mother of the two children, and Mwasiti Sikyala is their paternal aunt.

However, the one aspect of the case that has mystified authorities is the condition the victims were living in when they were found.

They were living in the second floor apartment of a detached garage behind a home. On Friday, there were piles of trash and debris in the structure visible from the street. The Washington Post is reporting that there were also containers of feces found among the waste.

The victims had been living in filth and without air conditioning, running water and toilets, Hylton said Friday, although the structure did have electricity.

In what he described as an "inside landfill," the police have collected 10 tons of compacted trash and debris.

"They were very deplorable and dilapidated conditions," he said. "I'm disgusted."

Hylton said they have not identified whether the children went to any schools in the area, although he thinks they were too young. He also said police are looking into whether social services was aware of the situation.

According to police, the house was cited for a code violation in February of 2009 for open storage of trash and debris, a fence in disrepair and open storage of a dismantled and inoperable car. Those problems were fixed later that month.

Prince George's County Councilman Eric Olson (D-Dist. 3) said he went to Friday's Riverdale murder scene and talked to some residents about what he described as "a horrible scene."

"Clearly, it's a horrible crime, and I can't imagine what kind of situation it was and what was going on [before the crime]," he said.

Police were originally called to the scence around 2:40 a.m. Friday in response to an assault. Hylton said the patrol officers, who arrived on the scene, quickly identified it as a murder and secured people near the crime scene.

"This is a quiet community," Hylton said Friday, adding that there have only been two break-ins in the area since the beginning of the year.

Hylton said the investigation is still ongoing, as police try to identify why Bellard and Gilmer were in the area.

"They don't have any ties to the county," he said. "We're working with our narcotics enforcement division and reaching out to authorities in Texas."

A drug connection between the two areas will also be investigated.

"The good news about this is that the community can now feel safe," Hylton said, referring to the arrests made.

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Editor's Note: Several Riverdale Park residents have asked us to clarify where this murder occurred. It is in an unicorporated area east of Riverdale Park. Police say this area can be defined as Riverdale but also Lanham and New Carrollton. Local residents call it East Pines. It is not in Riverdale Park proper, but with its proximity to Riverdale Park and its significance, we thought we should cover it.