South Burlington police last week began analyzing the contents of an iPhone that belonged to Leroy Headley, the accused killer of Anako Lumumba, the mother of two of his children and a nurse in the Burlington area.
Headley has been on the run since allegedly shooting Lumumba dead in their shared home in South Burlington on May 3. Police found the Nissan Pathfinder he had been driving in Albany, New York, on May 18. Inside the vehicle was the gun used in the homicide, what appeared to be a suicide note, and Headley’s iPhone. Police do not believe Headley followed through on killing himself.
The iPhone was sent to U.S. Marshalls in Virginia to “defeat” the passcode, according to search warrant requests filed in Chittenden County Superior Court. The phone was returned to South Burlington Police earlier this month, and Detective Chris Bataille last week began conducting an analysis of data found on the phone.
Documents placed into Headley’s case file on Sept. 17 say police are searching for contact lists, calendars, call histories, texts, emails, web searches, images of Lumumba, and any other photographs or information that may be useful in their hunt for Headley and his eventual prosecution for homicide.
South Burlington Police Chief Trevor Whipple said Tuesday that Bataille was still looking through the data dump. “What the outcome will be is yet to be determined at this point, but certainly having data from someone’s phone is intriguing,” he said.
“We do hope that something’s there that’s helpful, but frankly our willingness to share that will be limited,” Whipple said, noting that Headley has proven highly effective at hiding from authorities.
“So we wouldn’t do anything that gives him pointers about what we’re doing next,” he added. Whipple is retiring from his post this week.
In the request to search the iPhone, police reference a temporary “relief from abuse” order Lumumba obtained against Headley in the months before the killing, which was ultimately dropped because she didn’t show up for court hearings to obtain a final order.
In her request for protection, Lumumba told police that Headley was becoming increasingly volatile, and that she was scared for her life.
“I am afraid that he physically threatens me because he is in possession of a loaded gun and what he says at times is very disturbing and unsettling,” Lumumba said in a statement to authorities on Dec. 2, 2017.
She referred to a text message from Headley that said: “The next time you’re going to see how I fight with you you’re going to see a real fucking fight if you can lived (sic) to tell about it.”
The search warrant notes that Verizon detected no activity on Headley’s cellphone from the day after the killing until the phone was found. However, police say they received a 911 call immediately after the shooting from Headley’s phone number.
“My name is Leroy Headley, I … I shoot my girlfriend, I love her so much,” the caller reportedly said, also giving the couple’s address at 10 Southview Drive in South Burlington.
Headley also called his attorney, Richard Goldsborough, 11 days after the shooting. Goldsborough said he was unable to determine the number from which his client was calling.
In May, police made a separate request to Apple Inc. for all information related to Lumumba’s Gmail account, which she apparently used to register her iCloud account.
“Content from Lumumba’s account could show evidence of the tumultuous relationship between her and Headley as well as her fear of threats to kill her. It may also include information about where they would travel together or conversations about Headley’s desire to move,” it said.
There are no court filings indicating that Apple has responded to that request.
South Burlington Police are coordinating with U.S. Marshals on the investigation. Bataille has said that the marshals are watching for Headley in his home country of Jamaica and Canada, as well as locations across the U.S.
