Aurora – A man wanted in connection with a 2004 homicide was apprehended Sunday in Shreveport, La., after a lengthy hunt that involved Aurora police, Louisiana authorities and federal marshals.
Sir Mario Owens, 21, is awaiting extradition on a first- degree-murder charge in the July 4, 2004, shooting death of Gregory Vann, 20, and two counts of first-degree assault in the wounding of Javad Marshall-Fields and Elvin Bell.
“That is good news indeed; a good way to start the week,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney John Hower, who learned about the arrest Monday morning.
Owens also is implicated in the June 20 shooting deaths of Marshall-Fields and his fiancée, Vivian Wolfe. No charges have been filed in that case.
Marshall-Fields was gunned down a week before a trial was supposed to start. He was expected to identify Robert Keith Ray as an accomplice in Vann’s death. But after Marshall-Fields was killed, police intensified their investigation into the July 4, 2004, homicide and now believe both Ray and Owens pulled triggers.
Ray goes to trial in March.
Investigators knew Owens had connections in Shreveport and had been there in the past, Hower said.
On Sunday night, Shreveport police tried to stop a car that was playing its stereo too loud, but the car fled. Police pursued for about 30 minutes before the occupants fled on foot. Police caught the suspects and arrested them on suspicion of a number of offenses and ran their names through a federal database – finding Owens was wanted on a murder charge out of Colorado and a charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
The capture was the second big one for Shreveport police Sunday. Police also arrested a Texas death-row prisoner who escaped from jail in Houston on Thursday. Charles Victor Thompson was captured Sunday at a liquor store in Shreveport, too drunk to be interrogated, according to The Associated Press.
Owens on Monday was in the Caddo Correction Center, where he is being held without bail.
He will have a hearing on whether he wants to waive extradition. Colorado prosecutors expect if he doesn’t waive extradition, he could be back in the state by early next week.
“I’m pleased that he is no longer walking the streets, that he is going to be confined like all criminals will be,” said Rhonda Fields, mother of Marshall- Fields. “To date there hasn’t been any charges filed yet in Javad’s murder. … We’ll see how the evidence unfolds.”
Staff writer Jeremy Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
