34 years later, DC woman charged with killing boyfriend and interfering with the investigation

The grave marker of Norman "Semo" Rich, the 34-year-old D.C. man who was shot and killed in 1990. His girlfriend Sheila Brown was arrested and charged in the cold case on Thursday. (Courtesy D.C. Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment)

The girlfriend of a 34-year-old D.C. man who was shot and killed in 1990 has been arrested and charged in the cold case, police announced Thursday.

Sheila Brown, now 66 and living in Annapolis, Maryland, told police she was about to run errands on the afternoon of March 28, 1990, when two men knocked on the door of her Northeast D.C. home looking for her boyfriend Norman “Semo” Rich, with whom Brown had three children.

Brown told police she knew one of the men and that his name was Ducky.

When Brown returned home, she told police she found the front door open and Rich shot dead in the bedroom.

Now, 34 years to the day of the deadly shooting, D.C. police announced Brown has been arrested and indicted on second-degree murder and obstruction of justice charges. Brown pleaded not guilty to the charges Thursday. Her next court appearance is set for June.

Norman “Semo” Rich was killed in 1990. Now, 34 years later, his former girlfriend was found guilty in his death. (Courtesy Sekeithia Tyler)

During a news conference Thursday, D.C. police inspector Kevin Kentish said Brown’s arrest was the result of relentless detective work.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say it was a ‘break’ or something that just brought the case to light,” he said. “Our major case detectives, they never stop looking at cases. So, what this was, was a case of looking, … reevaluating [a case], looking at all the evidence, looking at witness statements and being able to find certain intricacies in the case that would lead to the closure.”

Kentish did say, however, that new technology helped detectives make an arrest.

“In this case, there were some things that were present now that were not present in 1990, as far as DNA, witness statements. There’s certain stuff that we have now that we didn’t have back then that assisted us in being able to look at this case a little differently,” Kentish said.

Police said they could not elaborate on any new evidence that came to light, since the case was brought together by a grand jury and that information is confidential.

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