HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ Hartford police charged a Jamaican man with a 1988 slaying after bringing him back to Connecticut over the weekend.
Roosevelt Campbell, 54, of Kingston, Jamaica, had been wanted in the slaying of Michael Randolph and the attempted killing of his cousin, Gordon Randolph, since moving back to his home country in 1988, Det. Andrew Weaver said.But once Campbell left the United States, it was difficult for Hartford detectives to arrest him because the United States had no extradition treaty with Jamaica.
When the law changed four years ago, former Police Chief Bruce P. Marquis asked the United States Marshals Service to help the city track down fugitives.
It took two years for Campbell's paperwork to be accepted by the marshals' office in Connecticut and Kingston and for Jamaica to issue extradition warrants, said Deputy U.S. Marshal James M. Masterson.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit signed in 1988, police arrived at an accident scene in November 1988 and found Michael Randolph, 24, inside a car with a fatal head wound. Gordon Randolph was found outside of the car shot in the head and the face, but he survived.
Gordon Randolph told police that he and his cousin were in a store buying rum when a Jamaican man asked them for a ride. Randolph told police that during the ride their passenger pulled out a gun and shot Michael Randolph. Gordon Randolph, who was driving, said he put his foot on the accelerator, causing the car to surge forward and strike a tree, court records show.
After the accident, witnesses said they saw a man fitting Campbell's description running from the scene, according to the affidavit written by former homicide Det. Luisa St. Pierre.
Campbell apparently targeted the cousins, police said, because they had damaged his BMW.
