Arrest Made in Trinh Case

Just 12 hours after arresting the person they believe is responsible for the murder of Hopkins senior Linda Trinh, Baltimore City Police officials said early Thursday morning that their suspect, 27-year-old Donta M. Allen, confessed to breaking into Trinh's apartment and assaulting her on the day that she was killed. He did not confess to Trinh's murder, according to an investigator close to the case.

Hopkins officials said that the suspect was neither a student nor an employee of the University.

Allen, who was an acquaintance of Trinh and was dating a female student who lived on the building's third floor, gave police an audio statement admitting that he entered the apartment with the intention of stealing money - something he had done before - by using a foreign object to breach the bottom lock. He said the deadbolt was unlocked and that he believed that none of the apartment's three occupants were in their rooms.

But after Allen gained access to the apartment, he was startled to find Trinh sleeping with the lights off. He admitted that a scuffle ensued, that Trinh scratched him, and that he assaulted her, but maintained that he did not commit murder.

The suspect's arrest and subsequent admission that he assaulted Trinh concluded a whirlwind day that began at 11 a.m. when officers from the police warrant apprehension task force arrested Allen at the Baltimore residence where he and his mother live. The house is located about a mile from the Homewood campus.

At a press conference held later Wednesday to announce the arrest, Major Richard Fahlteich said that police were not searching for any other suspects and said that lab results conclusively linked Allen to the crime.

"The DNA evidence says clearly, unequivocally, categorically, that Mr. Allen is now our suspect," he said.

Investigators echoed those statements, noting that police matched evidence obtained at the crime scene with a DNA sample that Allen provided to police after he was compelled by a court order to do so.

Allen's attorney Warren A. Brown said that his client told police in earlier interviews that his DNA could have been found in Trinh's apartment because he had been there before, but that he had nothing to do with her death.

But detectives said late Wednesday that DNA evidence linking Allen to the murder was found on Trinh's body.

At the press conference, Fahlteich downplayed reports that Trinh had been sexually assaulted.

"For all intents and purposes the best we can say is that we have no evidence of that," he said.

Investigators said that other evidence also linked Allen to the Trinh's murder, including the fact that he was seen at the building on the day of the crime and that he appeared several times on surveillance videos at the apartment complex on other days.

Despite confessing to the attempted robbery and the assault, investigators said that Allen is still charged with first-degree murder and will face a bail hearing on Thursday.

Brown said late Wednesday that he would ask the judge at that hearing to order the prosecution to provide more information about the evidence they have against his client.

In addition, Brown alleged that police did not permit him to see his client after he was arrested, and said that he would also discuss that issue at Thursday's hearing.

In response, investigators said that Allen did not ask for an attorney to be present at any point during the interrogation.

Trinh's arrest marked the end of an investigation that began on Jan. 23 when Trinh's roommate found her body in their second floor apartment in The Charles, a residential complex located off campus. In the weeks that followed, the investigation evolved into a massive effort that included numerous interviews and spanned several states.

Detectives said that Allen's name was first mentioned early in the investigation as one of several non-students who frequented the building.

That and other tips led Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm to say in early February that there was a "person of interest" in the case. At the time, however, he also said that detectives were waiting for lab test results to be completed and cautioned that it would take weeks before an arrest could be made.

The waiting process, which lasted nearly six weeks, ended several days ago when police received word that evidence conclusively linked Allen to the crime. Late Wednesday night, they obtained a warrant for Allen's arrest.