Police consider gang involvement in double murder case

As investigators wrangle with how a 17-year-old with a record of small crimes turned into an alleged cold-blooded killer, police say they’re investigating whether accused killer Xavier Pinckney had gang ties in his Dale City neighborhood.

Pinckney has been charged with murdering Jim Smith, 19, and his mother, Jean Smith, 39, in what police called a botched burglary on Dec. 19.

Police said he shot the two victims sometime between 12:30 and 2 p.m. inside their home at 13662 Langford Court in Dale City.

Police charged Pinckney in the crimes less than 72 hours later.

Prince William police Maj. Ray Colgan said they are looking into the possibility of gang involvement — one of the many things his detectives are working on as they try and build a case against Pinckney.

“This case was solved by using good old-fashioned police work, with detectives out in the neighborhood talking with neighbors and witnesses,” he told the News & Messenger.

The day before arresting Pinckney, police canvassed the Lindendale area passing out fliers and talking with neighbors, looking for leads in a neighborhood on edge.

Neighbors who talked with police said they had all heard about the murders, but didn’t see anything.

In the end they all wanted to know how they could best protect their families from an unknown killer that struck in broad daylight.

A break in the case came when police spoke with an unidentified neighbor, who said she saw Jean Smith leave her house around 12:30 p.m. Dec. 19, and spotted a suspicious man the same afternoon.

She said while she was pulling out of her driveway, the man was lurking outside, according to court documents.

Police brought her to the police station the day after the killings, where she identified Pinckney as the person outside the Smith home Friday afternoon.

Pinckney came into the police station on Dec. 21 and admitted to watching Jean Smith leave her house, court documents said.

When police checked Pinckney’s record they learned he had a prior conviction for grand larceny from a burglary. He had also been arrested for committing daytime burglaries in houses with doors or windows left open around his neighborhood, said court documents.

Police said he did not force his way into the Smith home.

Pinckney lived in the same neighborhood, less than a third of a mile from where the murders took place.

After killing Jean and Jim Smith, police said he took a .22 caliber rifle, a .22 caliber handgun, ammunition, a laptop computer and a blue bag from the Smith house, according to court documents.

This immediately had police looking for where he might have stashed the stolen weapons, which could have been used in the murders.

On Monday, Dec. 22, before police broke the news that they had made an arrest, detectives searched a home at 4703 Kellogg Drive in Dale City.

Colgan said they got a tip that the murders weapons could be inside the house.

The residents of the house, who asked not to be identified, said police stormed their home just after 5 a.m.

“I don’t know what they were looking for. They just came in and dumped my trash everywhere,” one resident of the house said.

She said police were working off a tip that Pinckney had given a gun to their 22-year-old son after the murders.

Both residents said they do not know Xavier Pinckney, but do know his 24-year-old cousin, who used to associate with their children.

They said they have not seen their son in more than two weeks.

“He comes and he goes, and I don’t know where he is. I had to raise ’em up and get ’em out because they got too grown. I don’t know where he is unless he comes over here,” said the man at the Kellogg Drive home.

Police did not arrest anyone at that home, but did confiscate a .22 caliber handgun from the house.

In a later search police found two guns that belonged to the Smiths — a .22 handgun and a .22 shotgun, at another house, located at 4733 Koester Drive in Dale City.

The Smiths told police the guns were heirlooms that had not been fired in years.

Court documents show that Pinckney admitted walking to the house on Koester Drive after the double slaying, and leaving the guns at his friend’s house.

Jonathan Jackson, 19, who lived at the house with his mother, had been charged with accessory to murder.

Police said he could have helped led police to Pinckney sooner if he would have come forward.

In a search of Pinckney’s house two days after the killings, police found another shotgun, which could have been used in the killings, Colgan said.

“The next big step in the case is waiting for the ballistics tests to come back on the weapons,” Colgan said.

Those tests should be able to determine which gun killed Jean and Jim Smith. The results could come later this week, Colgan said.

But what led the 17-year-old to go from stealing things from houses when no one was home to becoming an alleged killer is still unknown, police say.

“That is just something that is going to have to come out as the investigation moves forward,” said Colgan.

Pinckney will appear in court on Jan. 12 for a transfer hearing, where his charges are expected to be upgraded to a capital offense.

Even if he is convicted in the crimes he will not be eligible for the death penalty under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, said Paul Ebert, Prince William Commonwealth Attorney.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.