Police seek cell phone records in double homicide

Nov. 17—Toledo police have arrested for a second time a man wanted in relation to a June shooting and obtained a search warrant for cell phone records they believe will tie him to the shooting deaths of two women in the early morning hours of Nov. 7.

Police asked for a warrant to review cell phone calls and data for a phone belonging to a witness who told them she picked up Donte Gilmer, 37, of 328 Langdon St., near the scene shortly after Laura Luckey, 42, and Natasha Carlisle, 40, were shot to death in a vehicle in the 800 block of Vance Street.

ShotSpotter detected about nine shots in quick succession just before 7 a.m. that Sunday and police responding to the 800 block of Vance Street found the women. Both women died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, the Lucas County coroner reported following an autopsy.

One was in the driver's seat of the black Hyundai Sonata and the second was lying on the street next to the sedan's open passenger-side door.

According to the affidavit filed for a search warrant, police believe Gilmer was in a relationship with one of the victims and that the pair had been seen together on the evening of Saturday, Nov. 6. Witnesses told police they saw the pair at Wolf Pack Motorcycle Club in the 3100 block of Cherry Street in the early morning hours of Sunday.

Witnesses also told police they saw Gilmer with a gun while pumping gas on Saturday while he was with both women.

Police arrested Gilmer on unrelated warrants later Sunday. According to court records, Gilmer was indicted July 15 for felonious assault in connection with shooting a gun at a car occupied by his former girlfriend and her 5-year-old daughter on June 28.

He was also indicted for discharge of a weapon at or near a prohibited premise and for having a weapon under disability, because of felony convictions for sexual battery in 2008 and felonious assault in 2012. His address was given in the court record as the 1200 block of Byrne Road.

After his arrest, he was released on a surety bond of $100,000 on June 29 by Visiting Judge Robert Christiansen. The bond was continued by Judge William Connelly on July 14 when Gilmer consented to be bound over to the Lucas County Grand Jury.

According to the court record, a warrant was issued for his arrest on July 19. He was arrested Nov. 8 and ordered by Judge Christiansen held in the Lucas County jail in lieu of $400,000 bond.

Michael Loisel, the chief of the criminal division in the Lucas County Prosecutor's Office, said that bond cannot be increased if the circumstances of the case have not changed. He said the higher bond may have been due to the gun specifications and the weapons under disability charge that were added to the case since Gilmer appeared in municipal court.

According to a Toledo police report of the June 28 incident, the 25-year-old woman said she had gone to the 700 block of Vance to meet Gilmer, her ex-boyfriend, and collect some dog items from her.

An argument ensued and he then ran into an abandoned house next door. He returned with a gun, which he used to fire at her vehicle multiple times about 11:37 a.m., which triggered a ShotSpotter alert. The woman told police the gun appeared to be a 9mm handgun.

The woman had called 911 to report the property incident, and the 911 dispatcher heard the shots. She was able to drive away.

Police said that when examining her sport-utility they saw multiple bullet holes in the vehicle.

The woman told police she was four months pregnant with his child and that they had been living together in the 1400 block of North Erie Street.

Police said in the affidavit for a search warrant that Gilmer admitted to them that he had been in the vehicle with the women when they left the motorcycle club early on the morning of Nov. 7. However, he told police the women dropped him off at an address on Orchard Street and then drove away. He denied being with the women at the time of the fatal shootings.

Police said the vehicle's rear passenger window was cracked and fresh cigarette ashes were on the center of the rear seat and on the armrest of the rear passenger door, leading investigators to believe the shooter was in the car with the victims.

Another witness told police that she picked up Gilmer around 9 a.m. from the area of Vance and Ewing streets on Sunday morning and that he was not near Orchard Street as he had told them.

Police asked a municipal court judge Nov. 9 for warrants to allow them to search records for this witness's cell phone calls and locations to verify her statements about when Gilmer called her and where she picked him up.

No arrests have been made in the double homicide and Toledo Police spokesman Officer Andrew Dlugosielski said he could not provide any information about Gilmer.

“Detectives continue to investigate the case,” he said. “More information will be forthcoming when it is available.”

First Published November 17, 2021, 5:09pm