Person of interest questioned in December homicide

Dayton police are questioning a person of interest in the death of an 18-year-old in a supermarket parking lot last year.

Richard Benton Jr. of Dayton was taken into custody at an apartment on Rugby Road, at about 5 p.m. Thursday, on a federal charge of conspiracy to commit heroin trafficking. Tim Ferguson, supervisory senior resident agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said that charge was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Benton, 23, is also being questioned by Dayton homicide detectives  in the shooting of DaLon Harvey behind the Westside Supermarket, 2813 Germantown St., on Dec. 5.

Police said at least 15 shots were fired at Harvey, whose body was found next to the driver’s side door of a dark-colored sedan.

“The number of rounds expended, obviously somebody did not want this young man to go on,”  homicide Detective Sgt. Dan Mauch said at the time.

Ferguson said the drug conspiracy charge and homicide investigation are part of an ongoing effort to curb the violence associated with the drug trade in Dayton.

Through the Safe Streets Task Force, the FBI and police work to investigate drug trafficking operations and solve homicides in the process.

He said this investigation is in the very early stages, but expects multiple indictments.

Thursday, Mauch said that others are being questioned in the homicide case as well, but declined to say how many people were being detained.

25-year-old Desmond Hill, who was named a person of interest in the case days after the homicide, remains in the Montgomery County Jail on a federal detainer. Court records show that he was charged with being a felon in possession of ammunition and was ordered held without bail until trial. No date for a trial has been set.