The Metropolitan Police Department arrested a Maryland man in connection with a 1995 Southeast homicide on Dec. 29.
The department’s Cold Case Squad said the unsolved murder of Nathanial Williams, 41, from Southeast D.C. is being investigated after the recent arrest of Taron Oliver, 42, a resident from Oxon Hill, Md. Oliver is being charged with first degree murder while armed pursuant to an arrest warrant, police said.
On July 18, 1995, police arrived in the 3100 block of 20th Street, SE around 3:20 p.m. after receiving a report of a shooting in the area. Officials said they found Williams unconscious and suffering from multiple gunshot wounds inside of a residence. He died on the scene.
More than 20 years later, police were able to connect to the victim and suspect. “Officers discovered the body of the stepfather of Mr. Taron…” Captain Anthony Haythe said at a news conference on Dec. 30. “We’ve had witnesses come forward and reinterviewed other witnesses as well, that led us to the breakthrough we needed to close the case.”
Haythe said the motive of the killing is still unknown.
According to an affidavit obtained by the Washington Post, an acquaintance of Oliver told one of Williams’ sons, a deputy with the Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Department, details about the slaying, including the suspect hiding what appeared to be a firearm inside of the home.
Williams was shot five times in the head in an upper level bedroom inside his home. His body wasn’t discovered in the home until the following day, July 19, the affidavit said.
According to the MPD, the unsolved homicide crimes closure rate for 2016 is 70 percent. The rate has varied from 60.5 percent to 95.4 percent since 2003.