Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Memphis, TN: CRIME REPORT: Memphis police charge 19-year-old man in girlfriend's murder

Memphis police have charged a 19-year-old man in the murder of a woman who was beaten, strangled and run over before police found her body in a car officers pursued on Sunday, according to a court affidavit.

Police charged Dimitrie W. Colbert, of Memphis, with first-degree murder. Colbert was held in Shelby County Jail without bond.

About 3:15 a.m. on Sunday, a Memphis police dispatcher received a call reporting that Colbert had killed his girlfriend, Janette Corria, 19, and put her body in the back of his 2007 Ford 500 at 262 Chelsea, according to the court document.

Police spotted the car driven by Colbert and a pursuit ended when the Ford wrecked at Winchester and North Lauderdale. Corria's body was in the rear passenger area of the car.

Colbert, according to the affidavit filed by a detective, described the woman's murder.

He said he had begun assaulting her in Shelby County and then drove across the Mississippi River to West Memphis, Ark., where she attempted to get out of the car and run.

Colbert recaptured her and drove to a remote area near Mound City Road and Interstate 55. After several attempts to kill her, he ran over her several times with the car, according to the affidavit. He placed her body in the car and drove back to 262 Chelsea, where the police pursuit began.

The Shelby County Medical Examiner's Office ruled that Corria died of blunt force trauma and strangulation.

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