In the late summer of 2018, the life of 44-year-old Denard Orlando Hartwell was tragically cut short in a violent encounter in Washington, D.C. On the morning of August 18th, at approximately 12:27 a.m., the sounds of gunshots pierced the night in the 4400 block of Livingston Road, Southeast. Responding to the reports, members of the Seventh District arrived at a chaotic scene. Moments later, a call came in from a local hospital regarding a male victim who had arrived with a gunshot wound.
That man was identified as Denard Orlando Hartwell of Northeast, D.C. Despite all life-saving efforts, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead.
The investigation into Hartwell's death unfolded over several years, revealing a story of a robbery that turned fatal. According to court documents and police reports, Hartwell was the victim of a planned robbery for marijuana. Surveillance footage from that night captured a car entering a parking lot and two individuals exiting the vehicle and heading toward the location of the incident. While the physical struggle was obscured in the video, it showed the two suspects running back to the car after the confrontation. Hartwell was found to be unarmed.
The first breakthrough in the case came in November 2018, when the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested a 24-year-old male from Glenarden, Maryland, identified as Carlos Galvez Pleitez. He was charged with first-degree murder while armed. Court proceedings revealed that Pleitez's alleged role was that of the driver for the individuals who intended to rob Hartwell. His attorney claimed Pleitez was unaware that his companions were armed.
Years later, a second suspect was apprehended. On October 10, 2024, the same fugitive task force located and arrested 28-year-old Darrion Blake of Owings Mills, Maryland. He was also charged with first-degree murder while armed-felony murder. During a preliminary hearing, a co-defendant who had entered a guilty plea and was the driver in the incident, stated that he had driven Blake and another individual to purchase weed. He claimed that Blake had texted him about robbing the 'weed man,' but that the other suspect was the one who shot Hartwell when he resisted. This witness also stated that Blake questioned the shooter's actions after they returned to the car. In a turn of events, in July of a subsequent year, a judge dismissed the case against Blake without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled, due to a failure to meet the indictment deadline.
