3 Murders In DC, PG County Tied To Credit Card Scam (ICYMI)

Editor's note: This article was originally posted last week.

WASHINGTON, DC -- Police believe three murders in D.C. and Prince George's County in late December -- including one in which a woman was locked in the trunk of a burning car -- may have been connected to a credit card scam the victims were involved in, according to a report.

WTOP reports that police have charged 23-year-old Ashton Briscoe of Northeast D.C. with first-degree murder while armed in the slaying of 23-year-old Kerrice Lewis of Hyattsville, Md., who was found in the trunk of a burning car in an alley in Southeast. Lewis had been shot 15 times before the fire was set, but she reportedly may have been alive as the car burned.

Court documents reportedly suggests that she was tied to a credit card scam she and other victims had allegedly been involved in, and that a man named Dennis Whitaker was "beefing" with Lewis because Whitaker believed Lewis had "set him up and got him shot at," according to the WTOP report.

Police reportedly connected Briscoe, Whitaker, Malique Lewis, Kerrice Lewis, and two of Lewis' friends who were also killed -- 23-year-old Ronzay Green and 27-year-old Armani Coles.

Green was found shot to death at a 7-Eleven in Northeast, and Coles was found dead in Capitol Heights, both on Dec. 28.

Image via Metropolitan Police Department