Two women are facing murder charges after a man was found dead in his Washington, D.C., apartment. His thumb was cut off and used by one of women to access a cash app to buy drugs and booze.
Two women have been charged with murdering and dismembering a man in Washington, D.C., in April, with one of them then using his severed thumb to steal money from his bank account to splurge on Uber rides, marijuana and booze, court documents and police reveal.
Tiffany Taylor Gray, 22, was arrested in Maryland earlier this month on a warrant for first-degree murder while armed for the slaying of 53-year-old Fasil Teklemariam, who was found dead inside his Washington, D.C., apartment on April 5, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said.
One witness said that Gray worked as a sex worker and that Gray described Teklemariam as her "sugar daddy," although those claims have not been verified by police, an MPD spokesperson tells Fox News Digital.
Teklemariam, a married father of two, according to a GoFundMe page, was found inside his Peabody Street home with stab wounds, multiple blunt-force fractures to his head and missing his right thumb.
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Broken glass was also found about his body and on his bed while forensic detectives determined that cleaning agents had been used to hide some evidence at the scene, according to an arrest affidavit. The exact details surrounding his death have not been revealed.
A witness told police that Teklemariam’s thumb was used to gain access to a finance app on his cellphone — which was stolen from the scene — in order to buy liquor and drugs. Teklemariam’s thumb and cell phone have yet to be recovered.
Police say that Gray is one of four suspects — two women and two men — being investigated in relation to the slaying. All four suspects were seen on surveillance footage entering Teklemariam’s apartment using a key fob and removing items from it in the days before police found him dead. Investigators believe Teklemariam was killed on April 1.
One of those suspects, Audrey Denise Miller, 19, of no fixed address, was arrested on June 21 and charged with first-degree murder while armed in connection with the killing, the MPD said. She is in custody awaiting a preliminary hearing.
Surveillance video shows Miller with Teklemariam before his death, the charging documents say.
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An anonymous witness told police that Gray and Teklemariam knew each other and that Gray referred to him as her "sugar daddy" and that she was involved in prostitution.
The witness told police that they had observed Gray using Teklemariam’s severed thumb to steal money from his account.
Investigators say they got a break in the case when they learned of a complaint Teklemariam filed with police claiming Gray had taken his phone and used it to steal $1,800 from his finance app last year, per the affidavit. The two had met at his apartment on Oct. 1 to hang out but the following morning he noticed she had left and that his cell phone was missing with charges made to his Cash App account.
They also discovered that Teklemariam’s cellphone last pinged from a tower in College Park, Maryland, close to where Gray rented an apartment.
Teklemariam was last seen alive on the evening of April 1, when CCTV footage captures him going to meet Miller outside his apartment and then going back inside with her, according to court documents.
He left about 20 minutes later and returned shortly after with three cans of Coca-Cola, according to court records. Gray, Miller and one of the male suspects were observed leaving the apartment building later on April 1.
He was forced to reveal his banking pin codes and his home was also burglarized. Investigators say that Gray has repeatedly met men online and stole from them.
A black Dodge Durango being used by the two suspects and Taylor was also observed outside Teklemariam’s apartment building in April.
The vehicle ended up being confiscated by police at a traffic stop, and a shoe and a jacket inside the vehicle matched that being worn by one of the suspects seen leaving Teklemariam’s apartment building on April 3, per the documents. The driver identified himself as Tommy Whack, and he is being charged in Maryland with unspecified crimes.
Gray was also charged with armed robbery and armed kidnapping in the Maryland case.
She is awaiting extradition to Washington, D.C., in relation to Teklemariam’s death.
