Charges Upgraded After Elderly Man Dies From Injuries In 2024 Northeast D.C. Assault
Sunday, June 1, 2025, 9:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
WASHINGTON, DC.- On Friday, a 70-year-old Northeast, D.C., man currently detained in the D.C. Central Detention Facility on charges stemming from an August 2024 violent assault of an elderly man was additionally charged with murder after the man succumbed to his injuries sustained to the assault.
According to D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith, back on August 6, 2024, shortly before 6:00 p.m., members of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department responded to a 911 Emergency Call reporting a man lying on the ground on the 1400 Block of Downing Street in Northeast, D.C.
Upon arrival, Police Officers located the man, later identified as Maurice Rowe, 70, with no known address, unconscious and suffering from multiple severe injuries. Mr. Rowe was transported by DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services to a nearby hospital for treatment, where he remained and, despite fighting for his life, on Monday, October 24, 2024, Mr. Rowe succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased.
Detectives identified Stokes As The Man Who Beat Mr. Rowe
During the ensuing investigation, Detectives determined that Mr. Rowe had been struck multiple times with a pole and identified the assailant as Morris Stokes, 70, of Northeast, D.C. Accordingly, on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, Stokes was taken into custody and charged with Assault with a Dangerous Weapon. Following being charged, Stokes was remanded to the D.C. Central Detention Facility, pending court proceedings in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia.
Following Mr. Rowe’s death, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the District of Columbia released their findings that the Cause of Death was blunt force trauma and the Manner of Death Homicide.
On Friday, May 30, 2025, a Grand Jury for the District of Columbia returned an indictment charging Stokes with first-degree Murder While Armed. Accordingly, pursuant to a D.C. Superior Court Booking Order, members of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s Fugitive Unit traveled to the D.C. Central Detention Facility and processed Stokes on the murder charge, pending future court proceedings in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia.
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