Man charged after confessing to 10-year-old unsolved killing

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

By HECTOR CASTRO
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

A dark night, rapid gunfire and a car speeding away with its headlights off were the elements of a crime 10 years ago when Donte Jwon Red was found dead on a side street in Tukwila near the Duwamish River.

Monday, King County prosecutors charged Michael Dante Drake, 29, of Seattle with first-degree murder, one week after he turned himself in and, police say, confessed to the crime.

Drake has been at the Regional Justice Center in Kent with bail set at $1 million since his surrender. His arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 8.

Red, 24, of Kent, was found dead just past midnight on Oct. 24, 1995. Witnesses called 911 reporting several gunshots, and they saw at least one car speeding away with its headlights off.

According to documents filed in King County Superior Court, police found Red in the road in the 3800 block of South 115th Street, dead from a gunshot to the head. He had been shot two other times. In all, police recovered five .25-caliber shell casings.

Detectives at the time were able to learn that Red had spent his last night at the Airport Motel in Tukwila with a woman who told investigators a man had visited Red and given him a piece of crack cocaine.

Later that night, the man returned and took Red with him. She learned only later that Red was dead, she told detectives.

Police found other guests at the motel who remembered the man seen with Red, but police never were able to identify him.

Then, on Nov. 21, Drake met with Tukwila police and confessed to shooting and killing Red, giving a detailed account of the killing.

Drake told police Red owed him money for drugs and that he drove him to the area near the Duwamish because it was dark. He parked, he said, then got out with Red, telling him he had more drugs for him in the trunk.

But once the trunk was open, instead of drugs, Drake pulled a pistol, pointed it at Red's face and demanded his money, he said. Red turned over all he had, and Drake said he fired, shooting him in the face. Red screamed and tried to run, but Drake said he shot him as he fled.

After the shooting, Drake drove off.

Court documents don't indicate why, after 10 years, Drake turned himself in.

On Monday, Drake himself would offer no explanation.

Speaking from a visitor's area at the Regional Justice Center, all Drake had to say when asked why he turned himself in was: "No comment."

More headlines and info from Tukwila.