Woman's death in burglary leaves Southeast Baltimore reeling

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http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-02-03/news/bs-md-ci-teen-murders-20140203_1_southeast-baltimore-burglary-baltimore-police

For the second time in her life, Grace Leto will have to bury a child.

In 1983, she said, her 18-year-old daughter was killed in a car accident in Baltimore. On Friday, another daughter, Kimberly Leto, 51, was stabbed to death after she happened upon two teenagers attempting to burglarize her home, Baltimore police said.

"She was a very vibrant, wonderful woman," Grace Leto, 78, said by phone. "I can't really talk about it."

Baltimore District Judge Rachel E. Cogen on Monday called Leto's murder "a tragedy … on all accounts" as she ordered suspects Alonzo Gorham-Ramos, 14, and Allen Pinkney, 16, held pending further developments in the case.

Leto's killing has frustrated neighborhood leaders, who say it shows police must step up enforcement efforts in the relatively affluent area.

Del. Luke Clippinger said he has invited the police commissioner to a public meeting in Southeast Baltimore next week to help address concerns in the aftermath of Leto's death, and community leaders say they are flooding Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake with requests for additional officers.

Court testimony and police records provided a chilling account of the incident that has shocked Leto's Highlandtown neighbors and patrons at O'Donnell's Pub, a neighborhood spot in nearby Canton where she was worked behind the bar.

Gorham-Ramos had previously been arrested in a summer burglary of Leto's home, police said, an incident in which she awoke to find him making off with electronics and other valuables. Authorities believe he returned there with Pinkney this weekend, and the two attacked her when she found them.

Both Gorham-Ramos and Pinkney have been charged as adults on counts that include first-degree murder, possession of a dangerous weapon with intent to injure, and burglary.