Almost six years after the murder of Jam Master Jay, MTV has come in contact with a man who claims to have the Run-DMC DJ’s two-way pager, which allegedly was left at a club in Milwaukee days before his shooting. Despite a headline claiming that the pager is “possibly a crucial piece of evidence in his murder,” it’s not until we’ve reached the end of the piece–after we get to read personal messages sent to the pager the night of Jay’s death–that we’re told why this wasn’t given to the police during President Bush’s first term. Turns out the police never “reached out” to Eric “Shake” James, and I guess this is the kind of “possibly crucial piece of evidence” one needs to be asked to hand over. MTV’s got the NYPD’s private line, though, so once they’ve published some of the heartbreaking contents of the pager, they’ll try to hook-up a meet-and-greet.
Maybe? Toward the end of a twisty-turny interview with JMJ’s brother, Marvin Thompson, and his former business partner Randy Allen that MTV chartiably describes as “rambling, evasive, and sometimes contradictory,” Allen hints that the security cameras at Queens’ 24/7 Studios may have been rolling on the night the former Run DMC DJ was killed five years ago. Allen, who was working with Jay that night, has certainly been “evasive” about potential evidence in the half-decade since, and judging by his muddled half-admission about the security camera tape, he might finally be itching to come clean.
It’s been over five years since Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay was killed by an unknown assailant while at the Queens studio that was his home base, and in that time very little progress has been made in the shooting’s investigation. But a half-decade later, Jay’s former partner, Randy Allen, is claiming that police have long known about a “telltale characteristic” the killer wore around his neck.
According to the Boston Herald, an unnamed witness has told police that Ronald “Tinard” Washington, a career criminal who is currently in a Brooklyn prison, has confessed to being present at the 2002 slaying of Jason Mizell, also known as Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay, as well as the 1995 slaying of Tupac associate Randy “Stretch” Walker. Washington, for his part, is denying the allegations:
“They want to blame me for all the blood in rap,” Washington said in an exclusive interview from a Brooklyn prison. “They are trying to pen me up for these murders.”
