Coolie, the oldest of the crew and a one-time drug kingpin, was charged with an unrelated murder, for which he received probation, a year after the fire. He still may be in Dallas.
Curly appears to have lived in Dallas as late as 1999. Police aren't certain of his whereabouts today, though he showed up in Detective Loboda's database research as a recent resident of Magnolia, Arkansas.
Mark Graham
Ketrick Jordan, 25, survived the 1988 Strawberry Trail arson fire by pressing his face against the burglar bars in his big sister's bedroom and gulping in fresh air. Five other members of his family died, and Ketrick suffered burns on 50 percent of his body. Doctors were forced to amputate Ketrick's legs below the knee; he also lost fingers on his left hand. His handicap hasn't stopped him from living a full life--he's learned to drive, ski and ride a horse.
South Oak Cliff native Vincent Lamont Thomas, 33, has been charged with capital murder in connection with the Strawberry Trail fire. He's out on bail.
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Soldier is still feared on the streets of South Dallas and South Oak Cliff. One witness identified his photo as that of Gregory Allen, a slightly built, light-skinned Jamaican with one feature that sticks in people's minds, bloodshot hazel eyes. Allen has a lengthy criminal history in Dallas. He was charged in connection with a 1988 drug-related murder case and got off when the sole eyewitness refused to testify; he was also the reported instigator of a notorious 1990 shooting in which five teenagers were gunned down in a bathtub at a South Dallas crack house. Allen was never charged with that crime. (See "The Girl Who Played Dead" and "Four Kings," by Julie Lyons, July 17.)
Soldier's alleged involvement lies in the murky background, a few layers above the multitude of workers he reportedly ran out of a motel on Lancaster Road and in other locations in South Oak Cliff. In 2000 and 2002, he surfaced on the streets of West Harlem in Manhattan, where he was nailed on a series of petty drug charges for possession of marijuana and crack cocaine.
As for Freddy Krueger--known to law enforcement in various jurisdictions as Milton Lee Hunter Jr., David Broadbelt or David Wilson--he met his end in New York City in the summer of 1992, just as the Jamaican era was coming to a close with the bust of the Allen family narcotics syndicate in Brooklyn. New York police found him at 3:30 a.m. lying facedown on the floor of a D-train subway car. His body had seven bullet holes--four in the front and three in the back, including one at the base of his neck.
The case has never been solved. Only one thing can be surmised about the unknown killer: He wanted to be absolutely sure Freddy Krueger was dead.
Dallas Observer editorial assistant Michelle Martinez contributed to this report.
