A man charged with killing five people — most of whom were suffocated during robberies of drug money — had been paroled shortly before the slayings began in 1993 and had developed a reputation as a feared gunman, police said yesterday.
“Everyone is deathly afraid of him,” said Baltimore Homicide Detective Scott Keller. “Not only are they afraid for themselves, but also for their families. It really was a genuine fear. He had a gun and a far-reaching arm.”
Dana Sylvester Whitley, 28, was paroled March 1, 1993, after serving roughly 5 1/2 years for armed robberies of the Golden Ring Mall movie theater and a Royal Farms convenience store. He had been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Police allege that Whitley used suffocation and torture in two robberies after his release — the first one in December 1993, when Lorrainne and John Temple were killed by asphyxiation in their Parkville apartment with plastic bags tied over their heads.
The same method was used in July 1994, when Timothy Tyson and Leif Hansen were killed at an apartment they shared in Northeast Baltimore. In both incidents, police said, plastic bags and asphyxiation were used to force the victims to reveal where money and drugs were being stashed.
The method is strikingly similar to that portrayed in the movie, “One False Move,” that appeared shortly before Whitley was paroled. A scene in the film shows two thieves tying up several people and suffocating a man with a plastic bag over his head to make him reveal where drugs were kept in his house.
Keller said yesterday that the coincidence was “uncanny,” but he said he didn’t know if the killings were patterned after it.
Whitley, also charged in the April 1995 shooting death of Daniel Adkins during an argument in Northeast Baltimore, is described in court papers as a violent man with a long history of arrests involving guns and robberies.
Since his parole he had primarily lived with his family in the 5700 block of Utrecht Road in East Baltimore and had no known employment, according to a state Division of Parole and Probation report.
In August 1995, Whitley and his stepbrother, Roderick Anderson, were charged with nine counts of attempted murder and weapons violations for an incident on Marquette Road in Baltimore County. No one was injured and the charges were dropped for reasons that could not be determined yesterday. But a probation officer cited the charges in an attempt to revoke Whitley’s parole in December 1995.
“Mr. Whitley has been reprimanded by this agent and the parole commissioner on three prior occasions for his poor performance on parole,” Mallory S. Fisher, a senior parole and probation agent, wrote in the report. “The subject has been involved with drugs and automatic weapons during the course of his parole.”
Correctional officials said Whitley’s parole and probation records were complicated and that they couldn’t synopsize them by the end of the day yesterday.
His parole stems from a 1988 conviction in Baltimore County Circuit Court. A judge sentenced Whitley to 20 years with all but 12 suspended for the robbery of a Royal Farms store in the 8200 block of Harford Road on Sept. 26, 1987, and the United Artists theater at Golden Ring two weeks later.
The movie theater robbery culminated with a shootout with security guards outside the building, according to court records. Whitley and at least one other armed man had walked into the movie theater shortly after midnight and robbed the manager, then were confronted outside while leaving with the money, court papers said.
Whitley fired a handgun at the guards and an accomplice fired a shotgun at them, court papers said. But the bullets missed and the robbers dropped their guns and ran off. Whitley was later identified as the robber with the revolver by the movie house manager, court papers said.
Pub Date: 7/31/97
