A Metropolitan Police Officer who was killed in White Oak 30 years ago was remembered as a hero on Wednesday as authorities announced that her then-boyfriend has been arrested in the cold case.
24-year-old Denna Fredericka Campbell was found fatally shot in her White Oak apartment in 1995, according to Montgomery County Police.
Amir Jalil Ali, 62, of Laurel, was arrested Tuesday. Montgomery County Police Chief Marc Yamada said it was “one of the longest-standing cold cases” for the county’s police department.
He was Campbell’s boyfriend and lived at the apartment with her. According to police, Ali told police he left the apartment to go to the store and came back to find Campbell unresponsive. He called 911 to report that there was a burglary and that his girlfriend was shot.
Denna Fredericka Campbell / Photo courtesy Montgomery County Police
Campbell was shot five times, according to police. Her department-issued handgun was missing from the apartment and has not been found.
Ali was charged in the case in 1995, but charges were dropped two months later. Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said he does not know what the conversation was regarding why the charges were dropped — “that was several state’s attorneys ago.” Ali’s name was Kenneth Burnell Wonsom until he changed it in 2021, according to police.
According to police, detectives re-examined evidence and reviewed details from case files. Police obtained an arrest warrant Sunday.
Campbell had been with Metropolitan Police for four years when she was killed. She proved herself to be a hero in just four years with the department, said Metropolitan Police Executive Assistant Chief Andre Wright. In 1993, she pulled multiple people out of a burning van on Pennsylvania Avenue.
