'Devoted' park ranger, family man held in triple murder

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It seems that everyone who knew Carrillo Dean couldn’t find a bad word to say about him.

But police are calling the longtime and respected Prince William County park ranger a murder suspect in the Thursday night killings of his wife and two stepchildren.

Dean, 44, called police to his home at 18402 Cedar Drive in Triangle about 10:45 p.m., said Prince William police 1st Sgt. Kim Chinn. There they found his wife, 45-year-old Elizabeth Dean, and her 13-year-old son Connor Kirk dead of gunshot wounds.

His stepdaughter, 15-year-old Brittany Kirk, was flown to a local hospital with gunshot wounds. She died there just after 3 a.m.

Chinn said Dean’s mother, who also lived with the family, was inside the house during the shootings.

She remained unharmed and Chinn said it is unclear if she heard any gunshots inside the home, which has a walled-off addition.

After the killings, Dean called a policeman he knows personally and told him to send officers to the family’s house, said Prince William police Maj. Ray Colgan, the department’s assistant chief.

Colgan said the crime was “domestic related,” but didn’t elaborate.

Neighbors of the victims are wondering what happened to a family they described as “genuinely nice people.”

They said Elizabeth Dean suffered from brittle bone and celiac disease and described her husband as a “devoted” caretaker.

He would often make special meals that did not include wheat due to her celiac disease, neighbors said.

Neighbor Sean Robertson, who lives just houses from where the murders happened, said young Brittany Kirk used to babysit his 4-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son on a regular basis. He called her a “very responsible young adult” who had a lot of friends.

“It’s just hard to wrap my head around right now. It’s hard to think about them being gone. I mean [Dean] used to drive his park Jeep around the cul-de-sac and wave hi when he came home from work,” Robertson said.

The Park Authority issued a statement saying Dean has been placed on administrative leave on Friday after 23 years of service.
Known as “CD” to his friends, Dean had been a highly decorated employee of the Park Authority.

He began his career in 1985 as a ranger aide and was then promoted to senior ranger in 1989, said Park Authority spokesman Daniel Kuhns.

He served as Chief Park Ranger briefly from March 2004 to June 2005, but stepped down from the position at his own request, returning to senior ranger.
His most recent assignment was patrolling parks in the eastern side of Prince William County.

About 20 children were gathered for a Valentine’s Day party inside the Veteran’s Park community center in Woodbridge on Friday afternoon — one of the parks Dean patrolled regularly.

“His work with the ranger division was highly respected among his peers and the community. There is a great sadness throughout the Park Authority at the news of this tragedy. Our hearts and prayers go out to the Dean family, his associates and to the community who knows him,” Kuhns said in a statement.

Brittany Kirk attended Forest Park High School, while Connor Kirk attended Graham Park Middle School.

Students at both schools were notified of the deaths of their classmates Friday, said Ken Blackstone, spokesman for Prince William County Public Schools.

“We have members of our crisis team at each of the schools to help school staff with counseling services for any of their students,” Blackstone said.

Letters were sent home with students to inform their parents, Blackstone said.

The killings were in the secluded Graham Park Shores neighborhood.

It is a wooded community of larger houses sitting along Quantico Creek near the Potomac River.

Senior citizens who live in the area said crime out of the ordinary.

“I live just around the corner from where this all happened, but I have never heard of anything like this happening here before,” said Louise Litwin, a neighborhood resident of 37 years.

Charon Jacob, who lives across the street from Dean’s home, said Carrillo Dean had a brother who worked for him at a now-defunct Triangle gas station.

Jacob said Dean’s brother committed suicide two years ago. As for his store, it was demolished recently to make way for a wider U.S. 1.

Dean faces two charges of first-degree murder, three counts of using a firearm in commission of a felony and one count of aggravated assault. The assault charge will be upgraded to murder, Colgan said.

Chinn said police charged Dean before learning of the death of his stepdaughter.

Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065. Aileen Streng and Kari Pugh contributed to this story.

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