Washington, 56, was serving a 17-year federal prison sentence for six robberies when the feds filed charges against him in Jay’s death. Jordan, 37, was taken into custody on Sunday. Both face a minimum of 20 years if convicted.
Washington’s name was in the mix from day one, Parker told Crime Watch Daily. Cops pegged him as a possible lookout. Why hasn’t he been arrested and charged for almost 20 years?
The afternoon of the murder, Washington said that Jay called and asked him to come to the studio. “One of the first things he said when I got there was, ‘Do you have a gun?’ I didn’t. So Jay showed me his gun — it was a .45 –and he gave me $200 to get some bullets on the street. He was going to meet (a drug supplier) in Connecticut the next day. He said the guy wanted to get paid, but he didn’t have the money. He asked me to come along for protection.”
After buying the bullets, Washington claimed he was on his way back to the studio when he saw two people climbing the stairs about 20 steps in front of him. He identified them as Karl “Little D” Jordan Jr. and Little D’s father,
Darren “Big D” Jordan. At more than 300 pounds, Big D was easy to spot, Washington said.
The two men were dressed in dark clothes and passed a video camera but were undetected, Playboy reported. At the top of the stairs the smaller man stopped. The other man, about six-foot-two and 180 pounds, burst through the door of the studio and all hell broke loose.
“Look at the ground!” he shouted and pushed Lydia aside.
Washington said he ducked and went out back. He said he heard three gunshots then saw Little D rush down the fire escape. “I’m positive it was Little D. I looked him right in his face before he ran off,” Washington said.
Not long after Jay’s death, the D.A.’s office charged Washington with a series of other crimes. Six years after the murder of Jam Master Jay, Washington was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
“This case has been very difficult because the police department, like anything else, they want to have a sure-win case, especially the D.A.’s office, and they want to put all the evidence together that they have because this involves a music icon,” former Detective Parker told Crime Watch Daily. “This is not just a normal person. It’s somebody who’s really famous, who’s big and they don’t want to go to trial and lose this case.”
