DNA and a ‘source’ help Fife police identify, arrest man for 2022 motel killing
A 43-year-old man has been arrested and charged with murder for a 2022 shooting at a motel in Fife. According to court documents, DNA evidence tied him to the crime months after it occurred but police only recently learned his whereabouts.
Dominique Lavelle Jenkins was arrested Thursday for the homicide of 37-year-old Terrance Flowers. The victim was fatally shot in the torso Jan. 28, 2022 in a room of the now-shuttered Rodeway Inn & Suites, 3100 Pacific Hwy E.
An argument reportedly preceded the fatal shooting. A person told police a man came to their door and confronted Flowers, demanding money back after purchasing a bong from him. A bong is a water pipe used to smoke marijuana.
Pierce County prosecutors charged Jenkins with second-degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Court records show a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf at an arraignment hearing Friday. Superior Court Commissioner Barbara McInvaille set his bail at $3 million.
During his arrest, Jenkins allegedly fired a gunshot at police after officers surrounded his residence and ordered him to come out. No one was hurt, and he was eventually taken into custody.
An attorney for Jenkins was not listed in court records Saturday. According to charging documents, the defendant has an active bench warrant from King County, and he has multiple prior felony convictions, including for first-degree assault and manufacture/deliver a controlled substance.
Fife Police Department officers were called to the motel at about 12:41 a.m. for a report of a person shot. Officers found Flowers on the floor in room 236. He was declared dead at the scene. According to the probable cause document, several other people were in the room and most were uncooperative.
In a follow-up interview, the person who described the argument over the bong told detectives she had been staying with Flowers at the hotel. She said the suspect, who went by the nickname “Smiley,” brought a tan handgun to the room and laid it on the bed. As the men’s argument escalated, “Smiley” allegedly picked up the gun and put it behind his waist. They continued to argue, according to the woman’s account, and “Smiley” shot Flowers at point-blank range.
Detectives researched the nickname in jail records and found it was associated with Jenkins, according to the probable cause document. Reports said he was a person of interest in a Federal Way homicide and a suspect in a robbery.
Surveillance footage from the motel showed that Jenkins was there about a week before the shooting, according to records. An employee told detectives she checked people into room 210 on Jan. 19, 2022. When she went to collect payment for the rooms a few days later, the employee said three males were in the room, and one was “Smiley.” He later came to the lobby and said he was only visiting.
Detectives viewed footage of the interaction in the lobby, and “Smiley” reportedly matched two booking photos of Jenkins and a Department of Licensing photo.
The Rodeway Inn has since closed. A fire damaged the building in December 2023, and a semi-truck crashed into it last year.
In August 2022, detectives learned that a shell casing found at the shooting scene was connected to Jenkins. A Washington State Patrol crime lab found DNA on the casing and determined Jenkins was a contributor to the profile.
More recently, detectives were contacted by a “law enforcement source” who had identified Jenkins in an unrelated investigation, records state. According to the probable cause document, the source knew Jenkins was listed as a suspect in Flowers’ homicide, and the source provided a phone number he was using.
Detectives obtained calls to the number from an inmate at Pierce County Jail. In one call from March, a person told the caller the phone number was “Smiley’s.” The phone number helped detectives track Jenkins to an address in Auburn.
After his arrest, police searched Jenkins’ residence and found 13 firearms, including a short-barreled shotgun. According to the probable cause document, Jenkins appeared to be 3-D printing guns.
In an interview, Jenkins reportedly apologized to police for shooting at the officers and said he wasn’t trying to hurt them. Asked about the homicide, Jenkins denied shooting Flowers but said he knew the man. He said he did not know why his DNA would have been on the shell casing that was recovered, and he admitted he used to go by “Smiley.”
