U.S. marshals arrest 3 men in out-of-state homicides

Victims were killed in North Carolina, Philadelphia, Ohio.

The U.S. Marshals Service worked with law enforcement agencies in metro Atlanta to track down suspects in three unrelated outof-state homicides over the course of 36 hours between Monday and Tuesday, the federal agency announced.

On Monday, authorities arrested 27-year-old Aldair Leon-ollusa in northeast Atlanta in the Jan. 21 fatal hitand-run of 63-year-old Erin Simanskis, a TV news editor in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Simanskis was on her way home from her job at WRAL News, where she worked as a researcher and assignment editor, when she was involved in a fender bender during a snowstorm, the news station reported. She stepped out of her vehicle to exchange information with the other driver and was hit by a van, allegedly driven by Leon-ollusa, who left the scene.

Simanskis died two days later, according to WRAL.

Leon-ollusa was arrested by Atlanta police and U.S. marshals at a home on Irwin Street. He was taken to the Fulton County jail, where he awaits extradition to North Carolina. He also has an Immigration Customs Enforcement hold, according to online jail records.

Leon-ollusa faces multiple charges, including hit-andrun, driving too fast for conditions and having an open container of alcohol.

On Tuesday, officials arrested the final suspect in the November shooting death of a Philadelphia 14-year-old, nearly a month after another suspect was arrested in Hall County. The boy, Samir Jefferson, was shot and killed in broad daylight Nov. 29. Authorities described the killing as an “ambush,” The Atlanta Journal-constitution reported previously.

Jefferson had been waiting for a bus in front of a Rite Aid in North Philadelphia when two suspects pulled up in one or two vehicles and began shooting, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The boy ran about 200 feet as the two shooters chased him, leaving a trail of at least 35 shell casings from two separate guns. Jefferson collapsed on the sidewalk after being shot at least 10 times. He died at a hospital.

Investigators quickly identified multiple suspects: Quadir Johnson, 20; Kyair Garnett, 21; Haneef Roberson, 20; and Jahlil Williams, 23.

Johnson and Garnett were arrested in Philadelphia shortly after the shooting, the Inquirer reported. Roberson was arrested Jan. 9 at a Hall County Walmart.

Williams was arrested Tuesday morning after investigators received information that he may have been hiding in a short-term residence in northwest Atlanta, according to a U.S. Marshals Service news release. A Georgia State Patrol SWAT team executed a search warrant at the residence in the 100 block of Holly Road and took Williams into custody. He was taken to the Fulton County jail, where he awaits extradition to Philadelphia.

Also on Tuesday, authorities arrested a suspect after an Akron, Ohio, woman was shot and killed in her car while running errands with her grandmother nearly two years ago. U.S. marshals arrested 19-year-old Adarus Macio Black in Sandy Springs with the assistance of the North Metro SWAT team, officials confirmed.

Black had been on the run since June 2020 following the shooting death of 18-year-old Na’kia Crawford at an intersection in Akron. Black was 17 years old at the time.

Crawford’s grandmother was seated in the front passenger seat of a white Chevrolet Malibu, according to Akron police. Witnesses at the time told police they saw another vehicle pull up alongside the Malibu and a suspect fire several rounds, striking Crawford multiple times. Her grandmother was uninjured.

The case was featured on Investigation Discovery’s “In Pursuit with John Walsh,” in which detectives revealed Black and Crawford did not know one another and that Black was allegedly looking for another white Malibu. According to investigators, Black had allegedly been in an argument earlier that day with people he believed to be driving a similar car.

Investigators recently found information that Black had been living in Atlanta under a fake name. Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force members were able to identify Black as he left an apartment in the 100 block of Greyfield Lane in Sandy Springs.

He was arrested following a traffic stop. He will remain in Georgia until he can be extradited to Ohio.