Police talk to boyfriend of woman killed in Fairmount Park

As police continue to search for clues in the grisly shooting deaths of a couple near Lemon Hill Mansion, investigators on Tuesday were interviewing a man they believe might have information about the victims.

For days, police had been trying to track down the boyfriend of Lisa Smith, 32, who was killed Friday along with Shakoor Arline, 25.

Arline and Smith were having sex in the backseat of a Toyota Sequoia in Fairmount Park early Friday, police said, when someone opened a back door of the SUV and fired nine shots, striking both multiple times in the head.

The couple had been romantically involved, police said, but were also dating other people.

Homicide Capt. James Clark has called the killings a "crime of passion," and investigators have spent the past several days working to determine whether the couple's romantic entanglements had something to do with their deaths.

Police have already interviewed a woman who was dating Arline, and are still checking her alibi, Clark said. On Monday, Clark said police were having trouble tracking down a man who had dated Smith. By Tuesday, the man was talking to homicide detectives.

Clark stressed that police still do not have a suspect in the case, and would not go into detail about what witnesses have told investigators. He said police are waiting to identify fingerprints lifted from the SUV's back door, and have not yet found the weapon, a .40-caliber handgun.

Arline's younger brother, Justin Bryant, said his family was reeling after learning of the killings. He said he had last seen his brother alive around 10:45 p.m. Thursday evening, when Arline told him he was going out. Bryant, 22, said he assumed his brother was headed out on a date.

Arline had been dating Smith for some time, and though his family had balked at their age difference, Bryant said Smith, of Oxford Circle, was "a good person."

"Neither of them did anything wrong that night," he said.

Bryant said Arline's ex-girlfriend alerted the family that Smith's car had been found on Friday afternoon, and the family had rushed to the scene.

"Once I saw the car, and the tape around it - I didn't want to believe that it was him," he said. "Nobody could imagine that situation."

Since Arline's death, Bryant said, his family has found comfort in good memories.

"I have a whole bunch of pictures of him with the family - that's how I remember him. He held us all together."

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