Critics say police botched investigation into mysterious death of Washington Wizards chef
Ernest Terrell Newkirk, 55, recently worked for several years as a chef at D.C.’s Capital One Arena for the Washington Wizards basketball team and operated a home-based landscaping and lawn care business in Southeast D.C., according to his domestic partner of 21 years, Roger Turpin.
On Saturday evening, May 27 of this year, Newkirk drove from his home to attend a Black Pride dance party held at the Ugly Mug bar and lounge in the Barracks Row section of Capitol Hill, Turpin told the Washington Blade.
Turpin said Newkirk was looking forward to attending a Black Pride picnic two days later as part of the D.C. Black Pride LGBTQ celebration held each year during Memorial Day weekend.
At about 12:30 a.m. on May 28, Newkirk called his partner on his cell phone to say he was leaving the Ugly Mug Black Pride event and would soon be on his way home in his car to the couple’s house at 19 Anacostia Rd., N.E., Turpin said.
