Two women were stabbed to death at 915 Second St. in the village of Liverpool on Monday morning, Oct. 28.
Sheriff Kevin Walsh identified the victims as Brandy Dallas, 24, and Samantha Rainwater, 30. The women and a handful of children had lived in the small, red Cape Cod-style home for less than a year.
Dallas’s estranged husband, 26-year-old Justin A. Dallas of 119 Radisson Court, Syracuse, was charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
The alleged murder weapon, a folding knife with a four- to six-inch blade, was recovered, Walsh said.
Each of the homicide victims suffered multiple stab wounds following a confrontation with Justin Dallas. Rainwater died in her neighbor’s driveway, while Brandy Dallas was rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Another woman who witnessed the crime on the home’s first floor suffered minor lacerations and was pushed down the basement stairs. Walsh declined to identify the witness, who called 911 to report the stabbings. She also suffered a minor leg injury.
The last homicide in the village was Jan. 6, 2011 when an infant girl’s body was discovered in a dumpster near the Hiddenbrook Terrace Apartments. In July 2012, the baby’s mother, 30-year-old Nicole DeJaynes of Clay, pleaded guilty in Onondaga County Court to first-degree manslaughter to avoid a trial for second-degree murder.
On April 21, 2008, toy collector Mark Clark was shot to death at his home on Cleveland Street. Clark’s murder remains unsolved.
Rainwater purchased the house and moved in with her 12-year-old daughter in January, said next-door neighbor Betty Marks. Brandy Dallas and her children moved in several weeks later.
The woman who witnessed the killings informed 911 that the suspect had stolen his wife’s gold Kia automobile and drove away.
On his way to the scene shortly after 11 a.m. Liverpool Police Chief Don Morris spotted the suspect driving south on Second Street near the corner of Hickory, toward the village business district. The chief followed the Kia and attempted to stop the car.
“The suspect did not pull over for Chief Morris,” according to the Sheriff’s Office spokesman, Deputy Herb Wiggins.
Sheriff’s deputies Mike Quigley and Karen Munroe joined the pursuit as it continued past Heid’s Corner to the main entrance of Onondaga Lake Park, where the Kia turned right into the park and drove across the grass directly toward the lake.
“The suspect jumped out of his car behind the ball field there and ran into the lake,” Wiggins said.
Morris and the two deputies followed him into the lake as Dallas dived underwater before being grabbed by Quigley. The suspect “was totally submerged,” Morris said. The brief struggle took place in waist-deep water.
The suspect was taken to the sheriff’s office in downtown Syracuse where he was interviewed. Walsh said that charges were still pending grand jury action after Dallas had been arrested following domestic disturbance in July.
Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Cali said that, after an altercation with his wife at that time, Dallas was charged with menacing, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon. Cali confirmed that a judge had also issued a restraining order against him.
The prosecutor indicated that Dallas had been placed on leave from his employment at Upstate University Hospital as a result of that arrest, the only one on his record. Samantha Rainwater reportedly worked with Dallas at Upstate.
At about 8:30 p.m. Monday, some nine hours after the slayings, Dallas was arraigned before Liverpool Village Justice Anthony LaValle, who remanded him to the Onondaga County Corbett Justice Center. Dressed in khaki slacks, a green Justice Center short-sleeved shirt and orange sneakers, Dallas spoke softly to his assigned attorney, Thomas Ryan, as they stood before the judge. The accused wore a bejeweled earring on his left ear.
Monday’s murder scene is located directly across the street from the entrance to Liverpool Elementary School. At no time were students there in any danger, wrote Liverpool School Superintendent Mark Potter in an email to parents.
The front yard at 915 Second St. remained heavily decorated for Halloween with faux spider webs draping the bushes and purple plastic gravestones dotting the lawn. One bore the letters “RIP.”
Pumpkins carved by the children who lived there also sat on the front lawn as more than a dozen deputies and police officers processed and documented the crime scene throughout the day.
Traffic was blocked from Second Street, also known as Route 370, between Outlook and Sunflower for about four hours, reopening at 3 p.m.
