Aurora – Police have made the first arrest in connection to the June 20 double homicide that killed the key witness in a murder case.
Aurora police arrested Parish Carter, 23, on charges of intimidating a witness, saying he threatened Javad Marshall-Fields the night before Marshall-Fields and his fiancée, Vivian Wolfe, were gunned down on an Aurora street.
“It indicates the substantial progress that is being made in this case that will result in filing of murder charges on the guilty parties,” said chief prosecutor John Hower of the 18th Judicial District.
Marshall-Fields and Wolfe were graduates of Colorado State University and were planning to move to the East Coast together. Their families have raised thousands of dollars for a reward fund.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Wolfe’s mother, Christine Wolfe, said of the arrest. “I think we are getting real close now. He’s going to stay in jail for a long time. It feels like another step, getting close to finding out who is the murderer. Hopefully someday someone is going to talk.”
Authorities say on June 19, Carter entered Gibby’s Sports Bar in Aurora, where Marshall-Fields was playing pool with friends. He allegedly shouted, “Javad Fields, Javad Fields. Are you … supposed to be testifying?”
Police say he then told Marshall-Fields to watch his back.
The next night Marshall-Fields and Wolfe were shot to death while riding in their car. No suspects have been named in the shooting.
Marshall-Fields, 22, was to be the key witness for the prosecution in a July 4, 2004, shooting that killed Gregory Vann.
Marshall-Fields had told police he saw Robert Keith Ray, 19, drive a car from the shooting after an Independence Day celebration at Lowry Park.
Ray’s trial on charges that he was an accomplice to Vann’s shooting was to begin June 27.
Prosecutors now are charging Ray with pulling the trigger in Vann’s shooting, and his trial date is in November.
In a recent court hearing in Ray’s case, Marshall-Fields’ sister, Maisha Pollard, testified that her brother called her the day he was shot, saying he had been threatened at Gibby’s.
The encounter was videotaped by the bar’s security cameras. Police later matched the image on the videotape with a photo lineup of suspected gang members and believe the man shouting at Marshall-Fields was Carter.
Carter also is wanted on an attempted murder warrant out of Adams County in an unrelated case. He is being held in Arapahoe County jail.
Charges from Friday’s arrest also include two counts of bribing a police officer.
Also arrested were Carter’s father, Percy Carter Sr., and his father’s girlfriend, Kimberly Ballinger, on drug charges.
Percy Carter Sr. is accused of being an accessory to a crime for harboring his son when he knew there was a warrant for his arrest.
Carter’s next court appearance is a preliminary hearing set for 1:15 p.m. on Oct. 12.
Staff writer Jeremy Meyer may be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
