Southeast District man found guilty in the sexual assault, strangulation, and stabbing of his 77-year-old next-door neighbor

Washington, D.C. – A 22-year-old District of Columbia man, Robert Pettus, was found guilty today by a Superior Court jury of the sexual assault and murder of 77-year-old Martha Byrd in 2004, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced. Ms. Byrd was the mother of four sons and a grandmother. The defendant was found guilty of multiple felony counts, including four counts of First Degree Felony Murder while Armed and First Degree Sexual Abuse while Armed. The jury also found that, at the time of the murder, Ms. Byrd was especially vulnerable due to her age and physical infirmity. The defendant faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release. Sentencing will take place later this year before the Honorable Neal Kravitz.

The evidence at trial revealed that on or about September 4, 2004, the defendant, who lived next door to the victim during his entire life, broke into Ms. Byrd’s residence at 527 Hilltop Terrace, SE, Washington, D.C., entering through her rear sliding glass balcony door. While inside of her residence, Pettus armed himself with a cloth ligature and a twelve-inch kitchen knife. Pettus went up to Ms. Byrd’s bedroom where she was lying in bed. He attacked Ms. Byrd, subduing her with the cloth ligature that he tied and twisted tightly around her neck. At some time during the attack, Pettus sexually assaulted the victim and then stabbed her several times, plunging the knife ten inches into her chest and piercing her heart. The defendant then left a note on top of Ms. Byrd that tried to implicate some unknown third person. Pettus left the house with Ms. Byrd’s car keys and was seen hours later (but before Ms. Byrd was discovered) driving Ms. Byrd’s automobile in the neighborhood.

Evidence at trial revealed that Pettus’ DNA was found in and on the victim. His fingerprints were discovered on the inside of her balcony door and on the inside of her car window, confirming his entry into the house and his use of her car. Fibers on the cloth ligature and fibers found on a piece of cloth in Ms. Byrd’s car were microscopically linked to fibers found on Pettus’ clothing. Finally, a handwriting expert confirmed, using for comparison hundreds of letters written by the defendant in jail, that the note left on Ms. Byrd’s stomach was written by Pettus.

In announcing the jury’s verdict, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised the efforts of the following: the Metropolitan Police Department’s Violent Crime Branch, including lead Detectives Bryan Kasul and Milton Norris, as well as Detectives Sean Caine, Donita Giles, Garry Johnson, Daniel Lewis, Daniel Wagner, Daniel Whalen, and William Xanten; MPD Mobile Crime Technicians Tony Nwani, John Allie, Cynthia Brown, Jay Gregory, A.P. Holmes, Dwayne Mitchell, David Murray, Ralph Nitz, Tina Ramadhan, James Savage, Keith Slaughter, and former technicians Joseph Anderson and Anthony Zurvalec; MPD Lieutenant Brian McAllister, MPD Master Patrol Officer Jerome Lucas, MPD Officers Rosemary Newsome, Charles Garrett, and Darren Edwards; Park Police Detectives Wayne Humberson and John Daniels; and Park Police Officer John Cox.

Mr. Taylor further praised the efforts of Dr. Harold Deadman of MPD’s Trace Evidence Unit, Doug Deedrick of MPD’s Forensic Sciences Division, Florine Allen and Ruby Brown of MPD’s Fingerprint Examination Section; Dr. Sam Baechtel and Biologist Mike Rousseve of the FBI’s DNA Analysis Unit I, Hector Maldonado, Danielle Seiger, and Diana Harrison of the FBI’s Questioned Document Unit, Terry Amburgey and Gary Lucas of the FBI’s Latent Fingerprint Unit, Ms. Rachel Cline, formerly of Orchid Cellmark Laboratories, and former D.C. Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Gertrude Juste. U.S. Attorney Taylor also commended the work of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit, including David Foster and Advocates Yvonne Bryant and Marcey Rinker; Larry Grasso of the USAO Intelligence Unit; Ron Royal, Litigation Technology Support Unit, with assistance from Oliver Jean-Baptiste, Joseph Calvarese, Tim Linder, Errol Spears, and Kimberly Smith of the Litigation Technology Support Unit; Legal Assistants Debra Joyner, Mary Doster, and Doloris Young, lead Paralegal Anthony Griffith and Paralegal Supervisor Wanda Queen for their administrative support; and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ellen Chubin Epstein and Albert Herring, who indicted the case, and David J. Gorman and Heidi M. Pasichow, who prosecuted the case at trial.