In the early morning hours of a Sunday in May 2018, the quiet of Monticello, New York, was broken by a grim discovery. The body of 19-year-old Lawrence Burns of Brooklyn was found on the grounds of the Monticello Meadows apartment complex. Responding to a 911 call, members of the Village of Monticello Police Department and New York State Police arrived at the scene around 3:37 a.m.
to find the young man deceased.
A subsequent autopsy would reveal a violent end to Burns's life; he had suffered gunshot wounds to his head. The investigation quickly became a homicide case, drawing in resources from multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Town of Fallsburg Police Department, the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office, and the Sullivan County District Attorney's Office. Investigators determined that Burns had been killed inside one of the apartments in the complex, not far from where his body was ultimately found.
The collaborative investigation led to a swift arrest the following day. Howard A. Sanders, a 19-year-old from Loch Sheldrake, was taken into custody and charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and tampering with evidence. He was remanded to the Sullivan County Jail without bail.
During the course of the investigation, a search warrant was executed at one of the apartments in the complex. This search not only yielded physical evidence related to the homicide but also led to the discovery of crack cocaine and Suboxone. As a result, another man, 22-year-old Gerrod D. Lucas, was arrested and charged with two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance. He was held at the Sullivan County Jail on a $25,000 bond.
