A $12,000 reward is being offered for the capture of two men still on the loose and linked to the robbery and slaying of a northwest Atlanta nightclub owner, as a second arrest was made Wednesday.
Atlanta police picked up DeMario Lanard Carman, 23, early Wednesday morning for his part in the Aug. 16 robbery and shooting death of Vanessa Elaine Thrasher, the owner of O.T.’s Lounge and Soul Food Grill, police said.
Thrasher had been scheduled to testify in the 2011 murder of one of her employees outside the Joseph E. Boone Boulevard restaurant, but police and family have characterized her slaying as a robbery.
“She gave them the money,” Thrasher’s brother, Michael Thrasher, said Wednesday. “And they shot her seven times.”
Atlanta police Homicide Unit commander Lt. Paul Guerrucci said, “From all indications, this was a robbery.”
Video footage from the incident showed individuals wearing clothing showing the letters “C.R.G.,” which investigators believe signifies that they belong to the so-called “Campbellton Road Gangsters.”
All four men sought in the shooting and robbery are said to be members, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said.
Police arrested Otis Ricks, Jr. within 24 hours of the murder, but, are looking for help from the public to locate 23-year-old Gerald Peterson and a fourth suspect police have tentatively identified only as “C.J.”
“We have reason to believe that they are still here in the community,” Howard said. “Based on their participation in this so-called gang, people know who they are.”
Members of the Atlanta police fugitive squad arrested Carman shortly after midnight Wednesday near Campbellton Road in southwest Atlanta, police said.
Carman has an extensive arrest record, dating back to his teens.
He was arrested at age 17 for theft by receiving in 2006, according to Fulton County jail records. In August 2009, he was arrested in Cobb County after allegedly being caught with stolen property, then trying to run from police.
Carman was charged with theft by receiving, obstruction, attempting to elude police and reckless driving, among other things.
Back in Fulton County, he was again arrested and charged with burglary, driving a stolen car and assaulting a policeman while in the possession of a gun.
Carman was most recently in jail in May for violating his parole in Cobb. He was released July 1.
In each of these cases, Carman was released within months of his arrest, according to jail records.
Vanessa Thrash inherited the lounge from her father, Otis Thrash, who had run the business for more than 40 years.
“She had grown up in this business and around this business,” her brother, Michael Thrasher said, noting that as a youth she worked at O.T.’s waiting tables and cooking. “My father felt that he would pass the business to Elaine because he felt she could be successful.”
But the early morning of Aug. 16, she was gunned down.
Her family has contributed $5,000 of the $12,000 reward for information leading to arrests of the remaining suspects.
Michael Thrasher said the family hopes their contribution will motivate someone to step forward with information.
“We would like to take this negative and turn it into a positive for somebody,” he said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Atlanta at 404-577-8477. Anonymous calls are accepted, and the reward is available to anyone who provides information leading to an arrest or conviction.
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