Durham identifies three found dead this week
Investigators have identified the bodies of three men found in separate places in Durham this week.
Charles Ellis Hinnant, 63, was found inside a townhouse on the 3000 block of Colony Road Monday morning. Detectives classified Hinnant’s death as a homicide after an autopsy was performed Wednesday. Authorities did not say how Hinnant was killed.
A few hours later, Trinity James Wilkins, 38, of Durham, was found in the Beaver Marsh Nature Preserve, located between East Club Boulevard and Interstate 85. Volunteers participating in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service project discovered Wilkins' body after noticing something wrapped in a blanket in the water.
Early Tuesday morning, Lensy Arnett Gill III, 23, of Durham, was found in the street at the intersection of Rosewood and Dayton streets. Gill, who was shot, was pronounced dead at the scene.
"One body is startling," Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said during a Tuesday morning news conference. "Nevermind, when you have three, one right after the other."
Lopez said it appears the three cases are not connected.
No arrests had been made in any of the cases as of Wednesday evening.
Anyone with information about any of the deaths is asked call CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200. Crime Stoppers pays cash for information leading to arrests in felony cases and callers never have to identify themselves.
"I don't want to put everything on the community, but this is our problem. It's the community's problem, and we need the community's help," Durham Mayor Bill Bell said Tuesday.
