Do you know who murdered Gregory Scott Young? Gregory Scott Young, 40, male, was stabbed on the night of July 17, 1999, in Northeast Washington, D.C., near the 2600 block of 4th Street and the intersection with Evarts Street. First responders found him unconscious with stab wounds; he was rushed to a hospital, where he died of his injuries. The Metropolitan Police Department issued a public appeal for information as the case opened, noting the location and date and seeking tips from anyone who might have seen or heard anything that night.
For years the investigation yielded no arrest, and the case lingered as a cold case through the 2000s and early 2010s. On July 30, 2015—sixteen years after the killing—detectives arrested Michael Green, then 44, on a charge of second-degree murder while armed in connection with Young’s death. The arrest followed renewed attention by the Homicide Branch and the Capitol Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, who executed the warrant after reexamining the 1999 stabbing.
Later court proceedings clarified that Michael Green was also known as Carl Pinkney. In 2023, a D.C. Superior Court judge approved a resolution that reduced the charge in Young’s case to second-degree murder as part of a broader plea arrangement covering multiple homicides from the 1990s. Prosecutors told the court that Pinkney had come forward years earlier and admitted involvement, describing how he assisted another man, Benito Valdez, in committing the crimes; the agreement in Young’s case carried a concurrent sentence, with Pinkney ultimately ordered to serve 12 years, crediting years already spent in custody. The court record and hearing included statements from Young’s family, underscoring the long impact of the loss and the relief—tempered by frustration—brought by a belated measure of accountability.
