In the early hours of January 25, 2019, Roscoe Foster, a 38-year-old father of five from Schenectady, New York, was shot and killed in what appeared to be a robbery gone wrong. The incident occurred around 1 a.m. near the intersection of Becker and Linden streets. Foster was in his car, having been lured to the location under the pretense of a small marijuana sale. It was there that he was ambushed and shot when he tried to fight off his assailants.
Wounded, he managed to get out of his vehicle before collapsing on the street. He was rushed to Ellis Hospital, where he ultimately succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation into Foster's death was stymied for years. A lack of cooperating witnesses left police with little more than grainy surveillance footage of parts of the crime. For a long time, the case remained one of Schenectady's unsolved homicides, causing anguish for his family and friends, who even put up a billboard offering a reward for information that would lead to an arrest. Despite initial optimism from the police that an arrest would be made quickly, the case went cold.
Years later, a break in the case led to the arrest of two individuals. In August 2022, authorities announced the arrest of Clifford Charles Jr., who was a teenager at the time of the killing. A few months later, in December 2022, a second suspect, Leffon Adams Jr., was also taken into custody. Investigators revealed that the two, who are cousins, had planned the robbery. Adams, the older of the two, provided the handgun to Charles, who then carried out the fatal shooting.
In May 2024, a jury found both Clifford Charles Jr. and Leffon Adams Jr. guilty of second-degree murder, attempted robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon. The trial brought to light the details of the planned robbery that tragically ended Roscoe Foster's life. In July 2024, both men were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, finally bringing a measure of justice to Foster's family five years after his death.
