Homeless man faces murder charge
Advocacy group paid for his stay at Rodeway Inn where guest was killed, police say
DANIA BEACH — A feel-good program aimed at getting the homeless off the streets during a global pandemic has now been marred by murder.
A homeless man was staying at the Rodeway Inn as part of a humanitarian effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The man killed another guest Sunday in
Room 3104, police say.
The male victim was found dead in the bathroom, stabbed several times.
For three days, accused killer Alphonso Washington was on the lam. Then on Wednesday, Broward sheriff’s deputies found him hiding in his Dania Beach hotel room and booked him on a murder charge.
Washington, 59, wound up at the Rodeway Inn after Fort Lauderdale handed out free hotel vouchers in early May to dozens of homeless people to get them off the streets and help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The program ended in the city ran out of money.
Several of the homeless guests were taken to shelters or chose to return to the streets.
But 38 people, including Washington, stayed behind at the hotel after the political group New Florida Majority agreed to pay for their rooms.
According to its website, the racial justice and political action group stepped in to help after Fort Lauderdale moved to evict the hotel’s homeless guests “in the midst of the worst of the pandemic.”
A hotel manager says New Florida Majority stopped paying for the rooms on Sunday — the same day of the killing.
Organizers for New Florida Majority could not be reached for comment despite calls on Wednesday and Thursday.
Izzy Fintz, the Rodeway’s vice president of hospitality, said he was out of town when the murder happened and didn’t have too many details.
“There was a fight between people,” he said. “I don’t know the whole story. They might have fought over money.”
Shana Cartwright, one of the homeless women who’s been staying at the hotel, said the victim was homeless. So did another man, who requested anonymity.
The Sheriff’s Office is withholding the victim’s name. The agency cited new constitutional protections for crime victims that allow police to hold back information that could be used to locate or harass victims and their families. mid-July when
The hotel’s homeless guests were all staying in rooms in the same wing of the building.
Cartwright said the victim’s room was on the ground floor not far from that of his accused killer.
“The one who went to jail, everyone thought he was cool — until this happened,” Cartwright said. “He mostly kept to himself. He would always say hello to me. He’d always give me cigarettes.”
On Wednesday night, hours after Washington’s arrest, the hotel’s remaining homeless guests got a letter from the Rodeway Inn telling them they needed to check out by 9 a.m. Thursday.
The letter, obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, says New Florida Majority “has exceeded their funding” and could no longer pay for the rooms.
“Your stay ends tomorrow, Thursday August 6 at 9 a.m.,” the letter went on to say. “Please gather all your belongings and leave the room clean. We will not be responsible for any personal items.”
The letter came with this warning: “After 10 a.m. you are required to leave our property and facility, as well you must leave the city of Dania Beach. This is an order by BSO and city of Dania. BSO officers will be here at 10 a.m. to help facilitate the move and transfer.”
The letter signed off with “God Bless You, the management.”
Dania Beach officials objected back in May after finding out Fort Lauderdale had arranged for dozens of homeless people to stay at the Rodeway Inn, a blue twostory hotel at 2440 W. State Road 84.
They were upset they hadn’t been told ahead of time. But Fort Lauderdale officials said they didn’t realize the motel was in Dania Beach.
On Wednesday, Dania Beach Commissioner Chickie Brandimarte was taken aback to learn that the hotel was ordering the homeless to leave town.
“They’re ordering them out of the city?” she said, her voice rising with surprise. “How do you do that? This is unbelievable.”
Mayor Lori Lewellen said the city had nothing to do with the letter.
“We never ordered the homeless to leave Dania Beach,” she said.
On Thursday morning, several homeless guests checked out of the hotel as ordered.
Two men headed west on State Road 84 lugging their belongings in trash bags slung over their shoulders. Another man soon followed.
“I have no choice,” he said when asked if he was leaving. He wasn’t sure where he was heading.
“I got nowhere to go,” he said. Luke McCloud, 52, was busy packing up his room, planning to be off the property by the 10 a.m. deadline.
“It is what it is,” said McCloud, a Delray Beach man who found himself living on the streets of Fort Lauderdale after hitting hard times.
He thought he’d be able to stay at the Rodeway Inn through August, until a hotel worker handed out that letter Wednesday night ordering them to leave town.
McCloud said his sister flew in from across the country to help him move. But he was planning to head back to Fort Lauderdale.
“That’s all I know to do,” he said. “My sister lives in California. But I’m not going there. I don’t want to go there.”