The Mirror Newspapers Reflecting Life Along The Maumee River
BY NANCY GAGNET | MIRROR REPORTER — Quick thinking and diligent policework on the part of the Maumee Police Division led to the successful apprehension and arrest of a teen wanted for murder in Louisville, Ky.
Maumee Police Sgt. Andy Dean said that 17-year-old Daryl Horton was arrested without incident on the evening of Saturday, August 10 while walking along Key Street on the Ohio Turnpike overpass. He had been staying with relatives at Lake View Shores Apartments after fleeing the Louisville area.
The suspect allegedly shot and killed 18-year-old Richard Harper in January while the youth was waiting for a bus to go to school. According to Dean, the victim had allegedly crossed or wronged the suspect in some way.
“So he (Daryl Horton) allegedly tracked him down. He knew his (Harper’s) bus route to school and he shot him in his back,” Dean said.
Technology led police officials in Kentucky to determine that the suspect had fled to Maumee and could be staying at the apartment complex on Key Street, Dean said.
“We knew he was staying with a relative, but we did not know who that relative was and we did not know which apartment he was in,” Dean said.
Working continuously to run plates and track down information, the Maumee detectives worked non-stop to narrow their search. Once police discovered a selfie that the suspect had taken at the complex, the background was analyzed and search efforts were directed to a designated area. An officer conducting surveillance in an unmarked vehicle at the complex eventually spotted Horton walking out of the apartment toward Toledo.
“They decided that the top of the overpass was the best place to converge on him because he was a flight risk and he was considered armed and dangerous,” Dean said.
The suspect was charged as an unruly juvenile and booked into the Lucas County Juvenile Justice Center. According to Dean, without that charge, the suspect could not have been held since an arrest warrant, which is required to hold a juvenile, had not yet been entered into the national databank by the prosecutor’s office in Kentucky.
“By filing a status charge as an unruly juvenile, officials could hold him until Monday,” Dean said.
Maumee Police Chief Dave Tullis credited Dean with bringing the charge necessary to hold the juvenile, and he praised the officers for their work to ensure a positive outcome.
“They were able to get this individual isolated and in an area that wouldn’t harm anybody else,” Tullis said. “When you have somebody who is up for a homicide, they have fled the state and they are hiding, you don’t know how desperate they are. I was very pleased with how the arrest happened and that our officers did it in the safest way possible for both the suspect, the citizens and the police officers.”
On Sunday, two Maumee detectives and two Louisville homicide detectives searched the Lake View Shores apartment, where they recovered evidence related to the homicide. The detectives also conducted interviews of those living there, which included two adults and two children. An investigation continues for those individuals, Dean said.
Horton is expected to be extradited to Louisville to face murder charges, Dean added.
“The arrest was a group effort,” Dean said. “Nobody does this job for recognition. We appreciate it, but that’s not why we do it. We do it because we love what we do.”
