A Broward jury is set to hear closing arguments Tuesday in the trial of Kadian Andre Garfield Roper, a Coral Springs man who police say almost got away with the 2011 murder of restaurant worker Michael Todd Hamilton.
Five years after the victim’s body was found with multiple stab wounds in his Coral Springs apartment, detectives relied on a combination of emerging technology, dogged investigation and a little bit of luck to identify the accused killers..
One of them, Jason Martinez, 35, was convicted last June and is now serving a life sentence. Detectives long suspected him of being involved in the murder, but they did not have a sample of his DNA. He was confirmed as the main suspect in 2016 when DNA left at the crime scene was sent to a private lab that generated a composite sketch resembling Martinez.
Investigators tracked Martinez to New York City, followed him and obtained his DNA from a lemonade bottle he’d tossed in the trash. It matched the DNA at the crime scene.
After Martinez was arrested, a woman who had previously bolstered his alibi pointed police to Roper as an accomplice in the murder. Again, police followed the suspect to parking lot outside a Publix in Lauderhill, where they saw him spit on the ground. When he was gone, they collected the swab and tested it for DNA. It matched evidence found at the crime scene.
Roper, 43, considered testifying Monday but decided against it after learning statements he made in pre-trial depositions could be used to discredit him. According to a 2017 arrest warrant for Roper, he and Martinez are accused of committing the murder during a burglary of the victim’s apartment.
Roper’s trial is before Broward Circuit Judge Tim Bailey. Assistant State Attorney Heather Henricksen will deliver closing arguments for the prosecution, with Roper’s attorney, Hilliard Moldof, arguing for the defense.
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