In the early morning hours of October 17, 2005, two teenagers were found dead on the eastbound lanes of Suitland Parkway in Southeast Washington, D.C. Sixteen-year-old Marcel Merritt and 17-year-old Kevin A. Jackson had both been shot multiple times; their bodies also showed signs of having been struck by at least one vehicle, though it was unclear whether a driver was involved in the killings or whether the bodies were moved after the shooting. The Metropolitan Police Department’s Violent Crimes Branch opened the investigation and offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, but no immediate suspects or arrests were announced.

At the time he was killed, Merritt was a suspect in four other homicides and the critical wounding of another person, had an active arrest warrant, and had been in and out of the juvenile justice system since about age 14 with prior weapons charges. Police described him as a neighborhood terror; they do not believe Jackson was involved in the earlier crimes. If anyone knew Marcel or Kevin, their whereabouts that night, or saw anything on Suitland Parkway around October 17, 2005, please come forward with information.