Hard Times on Howell Street
In 2004, three separate criminal cases reported by the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and the Philadelphia Inquirer were connected to residents of Howell Street.
Murder of Diane Jackson — May 26, 2004
Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi and Acting Camden Police Chief Edwin Figueroa reported that a 35-year-old man was charged with Murder on Tuesday, May 25, 2004, accused of fatally stabbing and beating Diane Jackson, F/39, during the early morning hours of Jan. 9, 2004, in Camden, N.J.
Ronelle Bush, a homeless man whose last known address was in the 2800 block of Howell Street in Camden, was arrested Tuesday on outstanding municipal warrants. Investigators acting on a tip were performing surveillance on Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia when they spotted Bush and arrested him. He was later charged with Murder. He is being held in Philadelphia pending extradition to Camden County.
On Jan. 9, Camden Police were called to the Tamarack Apartments on Ferry Avenue at approximately 10:16 a.m. after maintenance workers at the apartment complex discovered the victim's body in a closet in a vacated unit. Jackson had just finished moving out of the unit, where she had lived. Jackson had suffered multiple stab wounds and blunt trauma to the head.
Investigation indicates that Bush and the victim were acquaintances and got into an argument during the early morning hours that day. Sarubbi and Figueroa credited Prosecutor's Office Senior Investigator Jeffrey Long and Camden Police Detective Wayne Matthews, the lead investigators on the case, for their determination and perseverance in pursuing leads in the case.
Death of Zabdiel Cardona — July 19, 2004
Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi and Acting Camden Police Chief Edwin Figueroa reported that a 25-year-old man died this morning as a result of gunshot wounds he sustained on June 18, 2004, in Camden, N.J.
Zabdiel Cardona, of the 2000 block of Howell Street in Camden, was pronounced dead at 8:02 a.m. today at Cooper University Hospital. Cardona was shot once at approximately 2:34 a.m. on June 18 at 23rd and Federal streets in front of the Tierra Dominicana bar. The bullet pierced his liver. No arrests have been made.
Jailhouse overdose — Philadelphia Inquirer, September 25, 2004
Man charged in fellow inmate's fatal overdose.
A Camden County inmate has been charged with smuggling heroin into the jail and supplying it to another inmate, who then died from the effects of the drug.
Jose J. Maldonado, 38, of the 2000 block of Howell Street in Camden, faces two drug charges as well as a charge of strict liability for a drug-induced death, a 1997 law that seeks to punish those who supply drugs to overdose victims. That charge carries a 20-year maximum sentence.
Maldonado, whose bail was set at $200,000, originally was arrested on a drug charge and taken to the jail on Sept. 15. Authorities said he smuggled heroin into the jail in a body cavity. He has been charged with supplying heroin to Daniel Green, 31, of Camden. Green, a state prison inmate serving a seven-year sentence for aggravated assault and drug charges, was in the Camden County jail awaiting transfer to another state prison. He was found dead in his cell September 17.