Critics say police botched investigation into mysterious death of Washington Wizards chef

Partner raises concerns after Ernest Newkirk failed to return home from Black Pride party

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

Ernest Terrell Newkirk, 55, recently worked for several years as a chef at D.C.’s Capital One Arena for the Washington Wizards basketball team and operated a homebased landscaping and lawn care business in Southeast D.C., according to his domestic partner of 21 years, Roger Turpin.

On Saturday evening, May 27 of this year, Newkirk drove from his home to attend a Black Pride dance party held at the Ugly Mug bar and lounge in the Barracks Row section of Capitol Hill, Turpin told the Washington Blade.

Turpin said Newkirk was looking forward to attending a Black Pride picnic two days later as part of the D.C. Black Pride LGBTQ celebration held each year during Memorial Day weekend.

At about 12:30 a.m. on May 28, Newkirk called his partner on his cell phone to say he was leaving the Ugly Mug Black Pride event and would soon be on his way home in his car to the couple’s house at 19 Anacostia Rd., N.E., Turpin said.

At around 2:30 a.m. when Newkirk had not arrived home Turpin became worried and tried calling him, but Newkirk did not answer his partner’s repeated calls. This prompted Turpin a short time later to call D.C. police to file a missing person’s report, Turpin recounted in a phone interview with the Blade.

It took another two days for police to inform Turpin that Newkirk was found deceased on a residential street in the 1100 block of 46th Place, S.E. shortly after 3 a.m. on May 28. Turpin said police told him they could not immediately identify Newkirk because he was found with no identification.

At the time he was found, Turpin points out, Newkirk’s wallet, iPhone, watch, jewelry, and his car, a 2017 Chevrolet Camaro convertible, were all missing. And on May 30, two days after his initially unidentified body was found, Newkirk’s Chevy Camaro was found about a mile from where the body was found, parked behind a small apartment building at 5024 Call Place, S.E., a police report says.

Turpin said a detective from the D.C. police Homicide Branch told him the cause of death appeared to be a heart attack, but the detective provided no explanation of how that determination was made.

D.C. police spokesperson Paris Lewbel told the Blade an autopsy has determined there were no signs of trauma on Newkirk’s body and police have ruled out a homicide in the case. And “thus far, we have no evidence of foul play,” Lewbel said in an email message.

A spokesperson for the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told the Blade that the office has yet to determine the cause and manner of death and would not be able to make that determination until pending chemical and toxicology tests are completed.

“This case remains under investigation by MPD,” spokesperson Lewbel told the Blade in his July 12 email. “We continue to investigate and monitor for a decision from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner,” Lewbel wrote. “Our next move will be guided by the cause and manner of death determination.”

Turpin, however, said he is troubled over the statement by police that no signs of “foul play” appear to be involved in a case that he believes should be investigated as a carjacking.

He said he’s also troubled over what he believes to be a lack of interest by the detective in looking into how his partner ended up on the street where he was found, what happened to his car, and what happened to his missing property, including his wallet and phone.

According to Turpin, Newkirk’s bank contacted him to say someone attempted to withdraw funds using Newkirk’s ATM card, prompting the bank to put a hold on the card. Turpin said he learned from Newkirk’s phone records that calls were made on the phone after Newkirk’s disappearance and Turpin has the phone numbers to which the calls were made.

He said the detective declined his offer to provide the phone numbers to the police so that the calls might be traced and the person or persons who took possession of Newkirk’s phone and other belongings might be identified.

Turpin said he received in the mail several traffic tickets, including speeding tickets and failure-to-stop-at-redlight tickets, associated with Newkirk’s car at the time it was missing. One of the tickets was from Maryland, said Turpin. He said D.C. police were not interested in tracking down the tickets to try to identify the person or persons he believes stole Newkirk’s car, most likely in a carjacking.

As if all that were not enough, Turpin said D.C. police also declined his request to look for fingerprints on or inside the car in a further effort to identify who took possession of the car.

“They never looked for fingerprints or anything,” he told the Blade. “So, I wore gloves when I got it out,” he said, referring to his taking possession of the car from an impoundment lot where it had been for more than a month. He said he had to obtain documents to show he oversaw Newkirk’s estate and had legal possession of the car.

“And when I got it out, I saw that somebody left their book bag in the car,” Turpin said. “And the police didn’t even look and see what it was.”

Turpin, who’s certain the bag did not belong to Newkirk, said he left it untouched in the back seat of the car, with the hope that D.C. police will take it as part of their claim to continue to investigate the case.

In response to a Blade inquiry, Vito Maggiolo, a spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, said an ambulance was dispatched to the address of 1131 46th Place, S.E. at 3:17 a.m. on May 28 in response to a call about an unconscious person on the street who was later identified as Newkirk.

A D.C. police incident report says the unconscious person was first observed by someone walking by who the report said was performing CPR on the unconscious person until police arrived and took over attempting to revive the then unidentified male.

“MPD Officer took over CPR until D.C. Fire/EMS arrived,” the police report says. “After all attempts at life saving measures, Subject 1 was pronounced dead on the scene,” the report says.

Turpin said he has no idea how or why Newkirk was found on that street. The Blade visited the street last week during the day. The address in front of where Newkirk was found unconscious is a single-framed house on a qui- et street lined with suburban style small to medium-sized, single-family houses, well-maintained and many with front lawns and patios.

Among those who knew Newkirk from his and Turpin’s neighborhood was Tyrell Holcomb, the chairperson of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 7F, which includes the areas where Newkirk’s body and car were found.

Holcomb told the Blade Newkirk was one of his early supporters when he first ran for election as an ANC commissioner. He said in 2019, Newkirk volunteered his services as a cook for a large outdoor community event that drew more than 2,000 people.

“I will forever be grateful for his contribution to our community,” said Holcomb. “So, for me, I’m frustrated at the pace at which MPD is moving on this. There doesn’t seem to be an urgency surrounding it.”

A printed program book for a memorial service held for Newkirk on June 10 at D.C.’s Shining Star Church says Newkirk was born and raised in Clinton, N.C., and graduated from Clinton High School before attending a culinary arts school in Virginia. The program write-up says he was a certified chef and “served the Washington Wizards for eight years.” It says he was also a Certified Nurse Assistant and the owner-operator of Newkirk Lawn Care.

“He loved his family. He was a ‘social butterfly’ who enjoyed listening to music and attending/hosting parties,” the write-up says. “Cooking and making people happy were his favorite pastimes.”

D.C. police have said that anyone with information related to an unsolved crime should call police at 202-7279099.