'Dae Dae' arraigned for murder
A 19-year-old man wanted in connection with a March homicide was extradited to Butler County from Virginia on Friday, arraigned and held without bail.
David “Dae Dae” Jabril Franklin, 19, of Brackenridge, Allegheny County, was released to Butler County authorities Friday morning, according to officials with the Henrico County, Va., Sheriff's Office.
He arrived back in Butler County Friday afternoon and was arraigned by District Judge William Fullerton, where bail was denied. He was then booked into the Butler County Prison pending further court proceedings. A preliminary hearing will be scheduled later.
County Sheriff Mike Slupe said one deputy and Butler Police Detective Lt. Anthony Fatta, who filed the charges against Franklin, drove to Virginia Thursday night and retrieved Franklin Friday morning, before making the nearly six-hour trek back to Butler.
“They retrieved him safely and with no problems,” Slupe said.
Franklin was wanted on felony charges of criminal homicide and discharging a firearm into an occupied structure after an incident that occurred at the Wick Street Apartments, 123 Wick St., on March 16.
Franklin is accused of shooting Rashaan “Smoke” Khalil Adams, 20, of Philadelphia, twice in the head and once in the chest.
He was wanted for more than two months and the U.S. Marshals Western Pennsylvania Fugitive Task Force had been searching for him since that time. His location remained a mystery until information was developed that he was in the Richmond, Va., area, about 350 miles from Butler.
Franklin was apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Service Capitol Area Regional Fugitive Task Force at a friend's home, where he had been staying for several days. He was held following his arrest in the Henrico County Jail and later waived extradition to Pennsylvania.
At his formal arraignment, Franklin told Fullerton that he had previously lived in that area, as well as Brackenridge, New Kensington and Butler.
Adams' body was found on the kitchen floor of the apartment by Butler police after they were called to the complex owned by The Butler Housing and Redevelopment Authority at 10:18 a.m., for a shots fired report, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
Franklin was developed as a suspect after the investigation determined he had been staying at the apartment the night before, with several people — including Adams and Kimberly Schnur, the apartment's tenant at the time.
Court documents state Schnur told police she witnessed the shooting after Franklin woke her up around 8 a.m. to ask “where his money is.”
Schnur said Franklin claimed $900 had been stolen from his pocket. Another person at the home at the time also claimed to be missing money.
Following the discovery and a confrontation, she reported that she heard two gunshots and ran into the room, witnessing Franklin shooting Adams, the document states.
Franklin then ran out of the apartment, police said.
An autopsy was performed and determined that Adams was shot three times: once in the chest and twice in the head. Butler County Coroner William Young III previously said his office's investigation found that the wound to Adams' chest was a “contact wound,” indicating that the barrel of the gun was close to or pressed up against Adams' body. Young said his office had not determined what caliber or type of weapon was used in the shooting.
On Friday, Franklin claimed to have never been charged with any criminal offenses before. An online criminal background check showed no other criminal cases against him in Butler, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties in Pennsylvania, as well as Chesterfield, Richmond and Henrico counties in Virginia.
Franklin told Fullerton that his mother had retained an attorney, but he did not know the lawyer's name.
