[A] man wanted for arrest in the shooting of a South Burlington woman on Thursday was freed on bail last year in a separate case in which he was charged with sexual assault against two 13-year-old girls, whom he allegedly plied with alcohol in a hotel room.
The order to release Leroy Headley, 36, was signed by Judge James Crucitti on March 17, 2017, in Chittenden County Superior Court. Headley is facing up to 20 years in prison in that case.
Headley is now also suspected of killing Anako Lumumba, 33, who is believed to have been his girlfriend. Police responded to the shooting on Thursday evening at 6:25 p.m. after receiving a call from police in Falmouth, Massachusetts, who said Headley had called relatives to say he had shot his girlfriend.
At a press conference Friday morning, South Burlington Police Chief Trevor Whipple said U.S. Marshalls, Vermont State Police and local law enforcement have been working to find Headley last night and today.
Headley drives a 2017 blue Nissan Pathfinder with the Vermont license plate HBR 281, according to police.
Lt. Shawn Demore of the South Burlington police said an arrest warrant for Headley was obtained this afternoon. “We’re really confident that he was at the scene,” he said.
A transcript of a call to Vermont 911 was included in the warrant for Headley’s arrest. “Yes, I’m at 10 Southview Drive, South Burlington. My name is Leroy Headley, I … I just shot my girlfriend, I love her so much,” the transcript reads.
Demore said police were not certain the voice was Headley’s, but that the call came from his phone number.
According to court documents, Headley has been arrested on multiple counts of domestic and sexual assault dating back to 2003, as well as a count of reckless endangerment after threatening someone with a gun.
In the case pending trial, Headley is alleged to have sexually assaulted two 13-year-old girls, who initially told him they were 18, but then told him they were 13, which he said he was “OK with,” according to interviews with the girls summarized in the affidavit.
The affidavit says that Headley met the girls at the University Mall in September 2016. On Oct. 21, he arranged to pick them up at one of the girl’s houses. He proceeded to drop them off at a hotel room in South Burlington and gave them $80 to buy pizza, the affidavit says.
Headley returned to the hotel room with tequila and whiskey at midnight, according to the affidavit. After the girls drank some of the whiskey, he grabbed their breasts, kissed them and then asked them to perform oral sex on him, which they did, the document says.
One of the girls took a video of the sexual act with her phone, which was later used to identify Headley, according to the affidavit.
Police confirmed that one of the girls had ordered pizza from Dominos in South Burlington that night, and also confirmed that Headley had stayed at the Homewood Suites at 5 Dorset St. in South Burlington on the night of Oct. 21, 2016.
The case was not reported to police until Feb. 21, 2017, after a detective found the video on one of the girl’s phones. Headley was arrested at his home on March 17, 2017, and arraigned in Chittenden County Superior Court that day on the charge of sexual assault, according to court documents.
Judge Crucitti also signed the release order that day. The conditions of release included not contacting the two girls and not being alone with any children under 16, apart from his own, according to the order.
Whipple, the police chief, declined to speak about the assault case. Sarah George, the Chittenden County state’s attorney, did not return a call seeking comment. The Vermont Attorney General’s Office also did not respond to an email requesting comment.
Richard Goldsborough, who is listed on court documents as Headley’s attorney, said he could not answer any questions and hung up on a reporter.
South Burlington police issued public updates on their search for Headley throughout the day on Friday. They said that he was armed and dangerous, but that there was “no information regarding a specific threat to the community.”
The South Burlington School District restricted access to schools and cancelled outdoor activities as a result of the manhunt.
“That’s the schools’ decision,“ Whipple said. “We did not ask them to do that. Not that we disapprove. Times like this, there can be lots of angst.”
Members of the public are asked to send any information about the whereabouts of Headley to the South Burlington Police Department at (802) 598-3528.
Joey Waldinger and Colin Meyn contributed reporting
