28043647
A 15-year-old boy was found dead on a Grays Ferry loading dock Nov. 26, 2007. Tramine Garvin, 29, of Southwest Philly, was arrested and charged with killing Quintin Clarke, 15, also of Southwest Philly, June 9. Police are still looking for two others involved in the homicide.
The cold case was reassigned to Homicide’s Special Investigation Unit, which combed through the evidence again, according to a police source familiar with the case. With new technology that was not available in ’07, police identified Garvin, who was charged with murder, conspiracy murder, criminal conspiracy engaging murder, possession of an instrument of crime and abuse of a corpse.
Clarke was found dead naked except for a ripped white T-shirt on a loading dock of Selectronics, 1229 S. Napa St., beaten with nine stab wounds on his back, his throat cut, his head and feet covered with plastic bags and his body wrapped with cellophane, police said at the time of the crime.
Clarke, of the 2200 block of South Bonnaffon Street, was killed in the area of 67th Street and Woodland Avenue, according to evidence, but his body was dumped in Grays Ferry because one of the suspects police are actively pursuing is believed to have been from South Philly at the time of the crime, the source said.
A student at Bartram High School, Clarke is believed to have backed down from a fight making him a target from his neighbors. Although Garvin was older than Clarke, they hung out on the same block and Clarke’s backing down from a fight gave the impression that “Bonnaffon must be a bunch of punks,” the source said.
To report information, call Homicide Division at 215-686-3334 or visit www.phillypolice.com/forms.
Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
Also in this week’s Police Report:
Teen gunned down
Cats hoarded in West Passyunk
BB gunfire
Underground armed robbery
Fugitive arrested for slaying
Evicted and beaten
1st District gatherings
28043647
