D.C. police have arrested a suspect in the gruesome killing of a man in February who was found bound, beaten, strangled and burned inside his condo in the city’s upscale Logan Circle neighborhood during what authorities say appeared to be a random robbery, according to court documents.
Rico Rashaad Barnes, 36, of Northwest Washington was charged with first-degree murder, according to records filed Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court. A second suspect also has been identified, police said, and is currently in the D.C. jail waiting to be served a warrant. Barnes is scheduled to make an initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon.
The arrest offers some answers to the mysterious killing of Syed Hammad Hussain, a 40-year-old Pakistani immigrant who worked in finance and IT and was known by his friends and relatives as finely dressed, gregarious and outgoing. The Logan Circle area, home to historic Victorian rowhouses with trendy restaurants a short walk away, has very little violent crime.
The killing “is so devastating for us,” the victim’s uncle, Syed K. Hussain, said after learning of the arrest. “He lived his life. He was happy.” Syed Hussain said the family, who live in Northern Virginia, plans to follow the trial.
Police allege in court documents that, in the early morning hours of Feb. 11, Barnes and another man appear to have followed Hussain from a fast food restaurant a few blocks to the Zenith condominium building in the Northwest Washington neighborhood.
Court documents say surveillance video shows that, after Hussain went inside his home in the 1400 block of Rhode Island Avenue NW about 1:35 a.m., one of the suspects banged on a glass door, and Hussain let him in. The other suspect followed, along with a third man who accompanied them and later helped police, the court documents say.
The men argued in a hallway and then went outside, where police said Hussain was punched and collapsed. The third man then left. Police said in the court documents that the two suspects carried Hussain back into his building and into his first-floor apartment, by using either the access code or a key fob.
At about 2:40 a.m., police said in the court documents, surveillance video shows the two suspects leaving. One was pushing a bicycle and carrying two bags; the other was wearing a leather jacket and a winter coat, items he did not have on when he entered.
Police found Hussain’s body about 3:30 a.m., after firefighters responded to a 911 call for smoke filling the hallways. The door to Apt. 106 was closed, but unlocked, and inside, police said, they found Hussain lying face down in the living room, his hands and feet loosely bound with neckties.
The court documents state that Hussain had three circular skull fractures; police said they found two 25-pound metal dumbbells near his body, ligature marks around his neck indicating strangulation, and burn injuries. Police said the apartment had been ransacked, with laptop computers missing from their stations and a bicycle charger with no bicycle.
Police said they also noticed there was no cellphone in Hussain’s apartment. An acquaintance provided them with the victim’s number. Detectives called but it appear the Apple iPhone had been turned off.
The court documents say police obtained a search warrant for the phone and found that minutes after the suspects were seen leaving Hussain’s apartment, the victim’s phone showed a location in the area of 7th Street and Fairmont Avenue NW, just north of the Howard University campus near McMillan Reservoir. That helped police narrow their search, eventually leading to Barnes and his alleged accomplice, the court records show.
Police said Barnes works a half-block from Hussain’s condo and lives in a house on Fairmont Avenue. Police said in the court documents they located an acquaintance of the suspects who told them Barnes and the other man came to his apartment after the robbery on Logan Circle. That man told police the suspects boasted of having a bag filled with jewelry, watches and $50,000 in foreign currency.
The man told police the suspects took everything with them when they left, and smashed two cellphones, though the detectives said in court documents they noticed a few items apparently left behind at the friend’s residence: a pair of black loafers with Gucci stitched inside, a Hermes bag and a black leather jacket.
Police said that hours after the robbery and killing, the second suspect was captured on surveillance video inside a pre-trial release facility in Southeast Washington. There, police said, he was seen adjusting a watch he was wearing that court documents say resembles a Cartier that belonged to Barnes.
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