A Bridgeport man has been charged in the 1993 slaying of a janitor who worked the overnight hours at the Duchess Restaurant on Boston Avenue.
According to police, 17-year-old Danarius Dukes was armed and waiting inside a bathroom stall of the restaurant on a Sunday evening back in December of 1993. He and three other friends were conspiring to rob the manager after closing time.
"Once the manager started counting the money, the man with the gun would come out of the bathroom and he would rob the manager and then run down the road,” says Lt. Christopher LaMaine.
The only problem was the manager was gone and the only other person left in the restaurant was 77-year-old janitor Teddy Edwards.
"Danarius confronted him and the evidence will show he shot him In the head and shot him in the chest,” says Lt. LaMaine.
Edwards' lifeless body was found the next morning and the murder went unsolved for nearly three decades.
"Twenty-seven-year struggle for about three generations of detectives, investigators, and prosecutors,” says Lt. LaMaine.
Lt. LaMaine says it wasn't any new physical evidence that helped his detective bureau crack the case, but rather testimony from two of the four perpetrators
"We had to convince that we knew enough of the truth, that they had a great deal of exposure and that if they didn't provide us the rest of the details, that they could end up being charged,” says Lt. LaMaine.
Police say Dukes has a $2 million bond, and is charged with murder and felony murder. Police also arrested Breeze Brown with felony murder. His bond is set at $1 million.
"We want everybody to know we don't give up,” says Lt. LaMaine. “Twenty-seven years later, we still tried and I get calls from people who've lost loved ones every day and they want to know what we're doing, and even though this might not be their family member, we want them to know we don't stop"
Authorities say Dukes previously served more than 20 years for a separate armed robbery.