Dwayne Burnett was killed last June in Brownsville after the two women sexted him nude photos with an invitation to a sex party that was really a $10,000 murder-for-hire, police sources said Wednesday.
Ragene Powell-Dickerson, after masterminding the killing, then consoled the dead man’s shattered mom – even taking her to the wake and funeral, the victim’s family said.
“He came to the house like nothing happened,†said a still-devastated Joyce Burnett, 54. “This boy was supposed to be my son’s friend. I knew he had something to do with it.â€
Powell-Dickerson, 25, has been considered a suspect since his pal’s slaying outside a building where a gunman waited with the two women, the sources said.
Before going on the lam, he mourned with the victim’s family in their home and even helped pay for T-shirts and bandannas memorializing the friend reportedly killed on his orders.
Joyce Burnett recalled Powell-Dickerson – who had a prior robbery arrest – interrupting their grieving with a peculiar question.
“He said, ‘Ma, did they find any fingerprints?’†said the disabled woman, who needs a walker to get around. “Why would you worry about fingerprints? … He tried to come and cover his butt.â€
The murder suspect remained at large yesterday, although city detectives were speaking with his attorney about surrendering.
Powell-Dickerson and Burnett, 26, were junior high school pals who reconnected years later, according to the victim’s family. But they had an argument days before the shooting, the family said.
The two were friends with Crystal Copeland and Ebony Geddie, who sent their nude photos to Burnett and invited him to a threesome on Riverside Ave. in Brownsville, sources said.
Powell-Dickerson offered Copeland’s brother, Jimmy, $10,000 to execute Burnett once he arrived at the building on June 13, the sources said. Jimmy Copeland pulled the trigger, shooting Burnett, who served 90 days for criminal contempt in 2001, in the back and buttocks, the sources said. He died inside a car on his way to the hospital.
Crystal Copeland, 22, and Geddie, 18, were at the murder scene along with Powell-Dickerson, the sources indicated.
The shooter and the two women are jailed without bail at Rikers Island, charged with murder.
“They were wrongly accused of something they did not do,†said Willie Mae Dixon, the Copelands’ mother. She accused Powell-Dickerson of framing her children.
