CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Cleveland man was found guilty Monday in the slayings of four people on the city’s East Side in 2019.
A Cuyahoga County jury convicted Terrell Silver, 35, of aggravated murder in the deaths of Aiyanna Quitman, 19; Dejuan Damar Willis, 20; Christopher Monroe, 23; and Jazmyne Lawson, 18 in September 2019.
At the time of the shootings, Lawson was nearly six months pregnant. The four victims were on mattresses on the floor of a home near East 144th and Kinsman Road when Silver shot them, prosecutors said. Their decomposed bodies were found days after the shooting.
The jury deliberated more than three hours before handing up its decision to Common Pleas Judge Ashley Kilbane. He faces life in prison. A date for his sentencing has not been set.
“Today’s conviction is a significant step in justice for Jazmyne Lawson, Aiyanna Quitman, Dejuan Damar Willis, and Christopher Monroe,” said Michael O’Malley, the county’s prosecutor.
“This case took several years of hard work by law enforcement, and this demonstrates victims will not be forgotten in Cuyahoga County.”
Silver was linked to the case through DNA and other evidence, according to cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer’s news partner, WKYC. The station reported that Silver killed the four stemming from his dealings with Monroe.
Defense attorneys said there was no evidence directly linking Silver to the case, and they stressed that there were many who could have committed the attack.
But prosecutors presented a cellmate who testified that Silver had admitted that he killed the four, including a woman who was pregnant, according to WKYC.
Henry Hilow, one of Silver’s attorneys, said he had no comment, as the case is still pending.
