HARTFORD POLICE UNSOLVED MURDER
THE MURDER OF GUILLERMO MALAVE III
DATE OF CRIME: MARCH 24TH, 2008
TIME: 2218 HOURS (SHOOTING REPORTED)
LOCATION: 42-44 VINE STREET, HARTFORD 1ST FLOOR HALLWAY
CAUSE OF DEATH: MULTIPLE GUNSHOT WOUNDS
MANNER OF DEATH: HOMICIDE
GUILLERMO MALAVE III 08-14-1985
By Christopher J. Lyons
On March 24, 2008 around 10:15 p.m. Hartford Police received multiple 911 calls of a shooting in the first floor hallway of 42-44 Vine Street. Police responded to the scene and located Guillermo Malave III lying in a fetal position on the first floor hallway suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was unresponsive, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head and was taken to St. Francis Hospital where he died at a short time later.
At the scene of this crime, police received a great deal of information regarding the shooting and murder by building residents. Residents reported hearing gunshots and people running from the address after the shooting. Police learned that it was probable that the victim had been driven to the location by a friend for the purposes of buying narcotics. They learned that the victim had been a regular at Vine Street and that location was a high crime area with illegal drug selling. As the investigation proceeded, police identified a man inside as Rogeau Collins. Collins stole Malave's cellphone after he was shot. Police found out and charged him with Hindering Prosecution for his role in the theft of the victim’s cell phone.
Malave was shot with a 40 caliber handgun, at the crime scene police gathered up the spent bullet casings found in the hallway and at the crime scene. As part of their investigation Hartford Police enlisted the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to examine the bullet casings to see if they could be connected to a firearm used in other crimes. In that effort police learned that the firearm used to murder Guillermo Malave III was used in a September 6th, 2007 shooting of three men in Hartford. In that case, none of the victims cooperated with police.
Rogeau Collins, the cell phone thief, was charged in the March 10, 2009 murder of a Bobby Dixon in Bloomfield, Connecticut. He was convicted and is serving 45 years in prison for this crime.
The case is over 7 years old. Police know there are strong persons of interest and believe that this murder was committed with witnesses in and around the address. Those people need to call Hartford Police to help solve the case and bring a little justice to the victim and his family.
