JASON MATTISON Jr. - 15 yo(2009) - Baltimore MD

City police said a 15-year-old city boy was sexually assaulted, gagged
and stabbed to death by a family acquaintance and that his body was
found under blankets in a bedroom closet.Police said someone reported a break-in at the home of the teen's aunt at about 3 a.m. Tuesday.Two hours later, police were called because Jason Mattison was missing and a box cutter and blood were found in a bedroom.Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Mattison's body was found in a closet.Guglielmi
said a man who has known Mattison's mother and aunt for years is
considered a person of interest and that police are seeking an arrest
warrant.Police said Mattison was sexually assaulted, then gagged
with a pillowcase and stabbed in the neck and head. His body was
stuffed in a closet and covered with blankets, police said.

A 15-year-old boy who was found dead inside an East Baltimore house
Tuesday morning had been gagged with a pillowcase in his mouth before
being repeatedly stabbed in the head and throat, according to city
police.

A department spokesman said the 35-year-old suspect, who is being
sought on an arrest warrant, had a "forced sexual" relationship with
the victim, identified as Jason Mattison Jr. He had been visiting his
aunt in the house in the 2400 block of Llewelyn Ave.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi described the suspect as a
"family associate" who has "known the family for some time."

Police were first called to the house about 3 a.m. Tuesday for a report
that somebody had broken into the dwelling. An officer took a report
and left, but another occupant called 911 again about 5 a.m., saying
she had discovered blood in her mother's rear second-floor bedroom.

While police were there, family members reported that the teen was
missing and that they saw a box-cutter in the mother's bedroom. Police
searched the room and found Jason's body hidden in a closet, Guglielmi
said.

The man sought in the rape and fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old boy
whose gagged body was found this week stuffed inside a closet of a
relative's East Baltimore home was arrested late Thursday night, said a
police spokesman.

Agent Donny Moses, the spokesman, said Dante L. Parrish, 35,
of no fixed address was arrested without incident about
10 p.m. at a 7-Eleven store at Moravia Road and Truesdale Avenue in
Northeast Baltimore by members of the Regional Warrant Apprehension
Task Force.

He could not say how police learned Parrish was at or near the store

Moses said Parrish was transported to police headquarters for interviews by
detectives before he was taken to Central Booking and Intake Center,
where he was formally charged with raping and fatally stabbing Jason
"Jay" Mattison Jr., whose body was discovered early Tuesday in the
closet of his aunt's rowhouse in the 2400 block of Llewelyn Ave.

Parrish was being held without bail.

Police said the boy had been repeatedly stabbed in
the head and throat with a box cutter found in the house.

Police described Parrish as a friend of the people who lived in the Llewelyn
Avenue house and became a suspect shortly after the boy's body was
discovered. About 3 a.m. Tuesday, police were at the house
investigating a burglary. After police left, a resident of the house
noticed blood in her mother's second-floor bedroom and called police
after realizing the boy was missing.

Officers returned and found the body in a closet.

The teen was visiting relatives when he was killed, police said. It was not
known how long Parrish had been in the house before Madison was killed.

Court records show Parrish was convicted in 2000 for a 1999 murder and served
10 years of a 30-year sentence. He won a new trial when a judge deemed
his legal counsel had been "ineffective." In January, the state's
attorney's office offered Parrish a plea deal that amounted to time
served, and he was released, according to the city prosecutor's office.

The man accused in the rape and fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old boy
whose gagged body was found this week stuffed inside a closet of a
relative's East Baltimore home has confessed to the killing after his
arrest Thursday night, a police spokesman said.

Dante L. Parrish, 35, of no fixed addressed was taken Friday morning
from police headquarters to Central Booking and Intake Center. Police
said Parrish was arrested without incident about 10 p.m. at a 7-Eleven
store at Moravia Road and Truesdale Avenue in Northeast Baltimore by
members of the Regional Warrant Apprehension Task Force.

Parrish faces charges including first-degree murder, first-degree
assault and first-degree sex offense in the death of Jason Mattison Jr.,
whose body was discovered early Tuesday in the closet of his aunt's
rowhouse in the 2400 block of Llewelyn Ave., according to police. He
was being held without bail.

Police said the boy had been repeatedly stabbed in the head and throat
with a box cutter found in the house. Police described Parrish as a
friend of those who lived in the Llewelyn Avenue house and became a
suspect shortly after the boy's body was found.

About 3 a.m. Tuesday, police were at the house investigating a
burglary. After they left, a resident of the house noticed blood in her
mother's second-floor bedroom and called police after realizing the boy
was missing. Officers returned and found the body in a closet.

The teen was visiting relatives when he was killed, police said. It was
not known how long Parrish had been in the house before the boy was
killed.

Court records show Parrish was convicted in 2000 for a 1999 murder and
served 10 years of a 30-year sentence. He won a new trial when a judge
deemed his legal counsel had been "ineffective." In January, the
state's attorney's office offered Parrish a plea deal that amounted to
time served, and he was released, according to the city prosecutor's
office.

Many readers responded to Ryan Jones' memorial letter about his
slain student, Jason Mattison Jr., and it was that letter that prompted
colleague Brent Jones and I to do more with this case and write a fuller profile.
Jason was found dead in a closet of his aunt's house and police charged
a family friend, who had just gotten out of prison for murder, with his
death.A big unanswered question, even after two days of
reporting, remains: where did Jason actually live and how did he come
to be with his aunt and the suspect, Dante Parrish? His paternal
grandmother suggests he somehow left his mother's (we can only
speculate it had something to do with Jason being gay, which his family
was struggling to accept).The family in the Llewellyn Avenue
house insisted Jason was just visiting when he was killed; police will
only say he was "staying" there. But the cops also say that he had
"forced sexual relationship" with the suspect; both statements suggest
Jason was in the Llewellyn Avenue house as more than a part-time
visitor. It was in that house he met up with Dante, and his grandmother
questions how they could have allowed a man with a violent criminal
past be so close to a young boy.Police
declined to be more specific about Jason's living situation; too bad,
because that could clear up a lot and answer some questions, not just
for us but for the family, which seems at odds about how Jason was
treated.Everyone at his school told me Jason talked nonstop, but
not about how he lived. Was he in that Llewellyn Avenue house for
months (Parrish was released in January) and in constant fear all this
time? And if so, with so many friends at school, why didn't he say
anything. His grandmother told Brent that Jason "didn't keep any
secrets from me."It appears he kept his biggest secret until his death.His funeral is today at Unity United Methodist Church on Edmondson Avenue.

An overflow crowd spilled out of the sanctuary and into the vestibule
of a West Baltimore church Wednesday morning for the funeral of Jason
Mattison Jr., a 15-year-old killed last week in a brutal attack.

The principal at Jason's school announced a scholarship fund set up in
his name. Friends and family recalled stories involving the
rambunctious teenager, who had dreams of becoming a pediatrician. And
the reverend of the church told hundreds of mourners that the boy's
death should serve as a warning to the downtrodden neighborhood where
it happened to closely watch all kids.

Several students from Jason's school, Vivien T. Thomas Medical Arts
Academy, attended the 90-minute service held at Unity United Methodist
Church on Edmondson Avenue, some of the teens becoming so overcome with
emotion that they stepped outside.

"No one is truly gone if you carry them in your heart," Principal
Starletta Jackson said. "And Jason is a part of our heart. We all knew
that Jason wanted to be a pediatrician. There was never a question of
whether or not he was going to make it. Some children we have to pray
over a lot -- pray for grades that they pass, but we never worried
about that with Jason."

Jason was killed at his aunt's house on Llewellyn Avenue in East
Baltimore -- raped, gagged with a pillowcase, stabbed repeatedly in the
head and throat and shoved into an upstairs closet. Police say a family
friend, Dante Parrish, who had previously spent 10 years in prison
after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in 1999, admitted to
killing Jason. Parrish is being held without bail.

But the circumstances surrounding Jason's death remained in the
background Wednesday as mourners recalled Jason for his sharp, dry wit,
chic clothes and uplifting demeanor.

"We will miss you Jason but know that your memory will never be lost," Jackson said.

Dante Parrish, 35, pleaded not guilty Friday to murder and sexual
offense charges connected with the Nov. 10 rape and stabbing of
15-year-old Jason Mattison Jr., a sophomore at West Baltimore's Vivian
T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy. A Baltimore grand jury indicted Parrish
last month. He was released early from prison last January after
winning a new trial on a separate murder charge. The boy's body was
found in his aunt's second-floor closet; he was gagged with a
pillowcase and had been stabbed repeatedly in the head and throat.
Parrish is being held at the Baltimore City Detention Center without
bail. His trial has been set for April 14. -

Gay Lad’s Accused Killer and Rapist was Convicted Murderer




Baltimore, Maryland – According to information released by the Baltimore Sun, Jason Mattison, Jr.’s accused killer had previously served time for first-degree murder. Dante L. Parrish, 35, who is accused of raping and murdering the 15-year-old gay boy was convicted of murder in 2000 for a 1999 crime, and had served ten years of a thirty year sentence. Records show that he had repeatedly appealed his conviction and sentence. After a judge ruled that his legal counsel at the time of his original murder trial was “ineffective,” Parrish was granted a new trial. In a plea bargain for second-degree murder in the second trial, he was released from prison in January 2009 for time served, satisfying his sentence. Parrish was a friend of the family, rooming in the home of Mattison’s aunt on Llewellyn Avenue in East Baltimore, but it is still unknown how long he had lived in the house before allegedly committing the murder. Mattison was visiting his relatives at the time of the killing, which went undetected until police, who were summoned to the home for a burglary investigation on Tuesday, November 10 were shown blood oozing out from under a closet door on the second floor of the rowhouse. There they discovered the gagged, raped, and repeatedly stabbed body of young Mattison buried under a pile of blankets. The teen had been knifed in the head and throat multiple times with a box cutter found in the house. Parrish became a suspect right away, and was identified and arrested at a 7-Eleven store in Northeast Baltimore on Thursday, November 12. Speaking to reporters, Mattison’s cousin, Tara Dudley, said, “I need him to be brought to justice and pay for what he did to my cousin. He needs to pay for what he did to him.” A spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department said on Friday that Parrish has confessed to the crime. He is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree sex offense, and first-degree assault. Bail was denied, and Parrish is being held in jail pending what will be his third trial for murder in little over a decade.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:4Y9A_XG3iOgJ:unfinishedlivesblog.com/category/maryland/+Dante+L.+Parrish+Baltimore+MD+trial&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com

Man convicted of killing teen, leaving body in closet




15-year-old killed in bedroom of great-aunt's home

March 1, 2012

A Baltimore jury took less than three hours to convict a 37-year-old
man of first-degree murder and other charges for killing a high school
student in a relative's house where the teen sought refuge after being
shunned for being gay.
The quick verdict in Baltimore Circuit
Court came after jurors spent part of Wednesday evening and Thursday
morning discussing the case. Dante Parrish faces the possibility of life
in prison without parole when he is sentenced April 3.
He was convicted of killing of 15-year-old Jason Mattison Jr., who had excelled in his studies and wanted to become a doctor.




The young victim's relatives
attended every day of the trial and watched as the lead prosecutor
described how Jason was suffocated with a pillowcase, slashed with a
razor and stuffed into a bedroom closet. Prosecutors said Parrish left
his palm print in the victim's blood on a door frame.
Jason's teacher at West Baltimore's Vivian T. Thomas Medical Arts
Academy, who testified at the trial, said Thursday that he wants people
to remember not the attack but his student, who would have graduated
this year.
"Remember his smile," said Ryan C. Jones, who is now
staff developer for the English department at Forest Park High School.
"Readers will never get a chance to hear what a great voice he had, but
he had a flair for shining in the moment. Look at his picture, and you
know he was destined for greatness one way or another."
Two jurors reached after the trial declined to comment, as did police and prosecutors, because sentencing is pending.
The trial was particularly difficult for family members who heard sometimes painful recollections of Jason's life.
The
prosecutor described the young victim as virtually homeless, going from
"place to place to keep a roof over his head" and settling at his
great-aunt's house on Llewellyn Avenue, where he felt comfortable.
He was in an upstairs bedroom of that house on Nov. 10, 2009, when he was attacked. Three young adults had left for a party in Cherry Hill, and the prosecutor said Jason's great-aunt and another adult had passed out after taking heroin.
Assistant
State's Attorney Jennifer Hastings said a 13-year-old girl heard
Mattison scream for help and managed to rouse the aunt, who opened the
door to see Parrish and Jason, whose pants were below his knees.
But
Hastings told the jury that Parrish ordered the aunt out, and she
passed out in a nearby room without understanding what she had seen. It
was then, Hastings said, that Parrish killed the boy, stuffing a
pillowcase down his throat and slicing his neck with a box cutter so
deeply that he cut a main artery in three separate places.
"Jason died a painful death, a slow death, and died at the age of 15, alone," the prosecutor told jurors Wednesday.
Jones,
the teacher, said he had no idea that his student was in trouble
outside the classroom. He knew Jason felt comfortable expressing himself
at the school, where the majority of students are girls, and he said
talked to him frequently, but never about his life at home.
He
said that once he learned the details, he felt he had to testify in
court and offer jurors a portrait of the lively, engaged and smart
student he knew. "I felt I needed to be a voice for Jason," Jones said.
"When he was alive, he was so outspoken, he didn't need anyone to speak
for him. But after his death, there was no one else to do it."
Jones said he often thinks back, wondering whether there were any
signs he missed that would have allowed him to step in to help. "It's
disturbing," said Jones, who added that he learned more about Jason at
the trial than he had in school. "You think you know your students. But
you only know one side. The way he presented himself was in distinct
contrast to his living conditions."
While Hastings said Jason felt
comfortable at the house on Llewellyn, she also described it as lacking
any adult supervision, where the adults were often high or drunk and
there were frequent visitors. His great-aunt took in Parrish, no
questions asked, because he was old family friend, even though he hadn't
been seen in 20 years, the prosecutor said.
She said the family
didn't know Parrish had been convicted in 1999 of killing a man in East
Baltimore and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Subsequent appeals were
unsuccessful until the Innocence Project helped him get a new trial in
2008, in part because of witness identification of a gun he said he had
never owned.
Parrish entered an Alford plea, acknowledging there
was enough evidence to convict him but maintaining his innocence. He was
credited with time served and released, having served one-third of his
sentence. The Innocence Project has stood by its work in his case.
Parrish's
defense attorney, Bridget Shepherd, told jurors that investigators had
coerced statements from flawed witnesses, failed to test evidence and
tailored a case that pointed to Parrish. "This case wasn't investigated,
this case was created," said Shepherd, who did not present any
witnesses for the defense.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-ci-parrish-verdict-20120301,0,1551083.story

Dante Parrish sentenced in teen's death

April 03, 1012

BALTIMORE (WMAR) - A man convicted of trying to sexually assault a
15-year-old boy before killing him will spend the rest of his life in
prison for his crimes.

A Baltimore City Judge sentenced Dante
Parrish to two consecutive life terms in prison, one without the
possibility of parole, for the assault and murder of Jason Mattison.

On
November 10, 2009, police responded to the 2400 block of Llewelyn
Avenue as part of a larceny investigation. While in the home, they
learned that Mattison was missing and that blood had been found on a
second floor bed and banister.

Officer discovered Mattison's body in a second floor closet.

"This innocent young man possessed unlimited potential and the
perseverance to fulfill it. The future of our city was brighter because
he was a part of it. While we can do nothing to bring him back, we did
everything that we could to ensure that his killer spends the remainder
of his life in prison. I am gratified that we achieved that outcome and
produced justice for Jason. I thank all who contributed to this case,"
State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein said.

Read more: http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/crime_checker/baltimore_city_crime/dante-parrish-sentenced-in-teens-death#ixzz1uwbFJTFf