Dallas man arrested in mother's slaying

Dallas police were busy Wednesday investigating three deaths, including that of a woman who appeared to have been beaten to death and whose son was arrested in her slaying.
Mother slain, son arrested

In that case, Keith Asbry Rose, 38, called police at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and said his mother was on the floor of his kitchen apartment in the 4700 block of Bryan Street in northeast Dallas, but she wasn't moving or breathing.

The apartment complex is south of the intersection of Ross Avenue and North Munger Boulevard, in a neighborhood east of U.S. 75, also called Central Expressway.

"Paramedics beat us to the scene," said Cpl. Kevin Janse, police spokesman. "But they soon determined this was not a natural death.

"This was a crime scene."

The mother, 58-year-old Mary Rose, "appeared to have been killed by blunt force trauma to her head and upper body," Janse said. "So, (paramedics) pulled back and waited for us."

The son was taken to police headquarters for questioning, Janse said. He subsequently was arrested and booked into a Dallas County jail Wednesday, charged with murder. Bond was set at $150,000, according to jail records.

"I don't know what he said, but detectives thought what he said was enough to charge him with the murder," Janse said.

Rose did have a criminal record in Dallas County, Janse said.

Late-morning violence

Also Wednesday, police investigated the fatal shooting of a man about 11 a.m. in the 1200 block of Sleepy Hollow Drive in northwest Dallas.

The neighborhood was near a wooded area along the Old River Channel of the Trinity River, east of where Texas 183 merges with Interstate 35E.

There may have been gambling just before the shooting because dice was scattered on the ground near the man's body, Janse said.

The victim, Deandre Romand Howard, 20, was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, but he could not be saved, Janse said.

A suspect was located and questioned, but he was not arrested, Janse said. Instead, he explained, homicide detectives will present evidence from the case to a grand jury; if the panel indicts the suspect, an arrest would follow.

Unexplained and unidentified

Police were called to the scene of a dead woman Tuesday evening behind a vacant house at 2802 Brigham Lane, Janse said.

Discovery of the woman's body was reported at 8:15 p.m., Janse said.

The unidentified woman appeared to have been inside the home "for several days," Janse said.

"She was found by witnesses who were investigating a foul smell," he said. "The identity of the woman and exact cause of death will have to wait for the (medical examiner) to complete an autopsy."