Skip to content

Justice Finally Arrives for a Cold Case Murder of Plano Man

Nearly three years after a 58-year-old electrical engineer was gunned down in his garage at his home in Plano, police this week arrested three suspects in connection with his murder.
shutterstock_519960634
Shutterstock.com

Nearly three years after a 58-year-old electrical engineer was gunned down in his garage at his home in Plano, police this week arrested three suspects in connection with his murder.

Robbery was identified as a motive, according to a statement released Tuesday by Plano police. 

An extensive investigation by the Plano Police Department Crimes Against Person’s Unit resulted in the arrest of Ladarus Demarquis Earl Keys, 27, of Cedar Hill; and Christopher Jamond Walker, 28, and Jacob Anthony Malin, 27, both of Arlington. 

All three suspects have been charged with capital murder of Christopher Collinvitti, who was returning to his home in the 7900 block of Case Drive around 9 p.m. Nov. 7, 2017, after mailing bills at a nearby post office.

“Anytime you can bring the person or persons responsible for the death of a loved one, it’s important,” said Plano Police spokesman David Tilley in an email to Local Profile.  “This was a rare stranger-on-stranger crime and evidence at the scene was scarce. Our detectives were determined to find (and bring) who was responsible for this murder to justice and they did.”

Collinvitti was shot multiple times as he got out of his 2016 Toyota Tacoma parked next to another car belonging to his wife, who was out of town with family, according to reports. Neighbors who heard the gunshots called 911. Collinvitti was dead when police found him, the garage door leading inside his home still locked. 

Police turned to the public for help, offering $28,000 in Crime Stoppers rewards for information about the case that initially had no suspects, which is unusual for a city with one of the lowest crime rates in the nation for cities similar in size.

No tip was offered that led to the arrests, Tilley said.

In a surveillance video of the area near the crime scene, headlights can be seen from a vehicle slowly approaching near the alley entrance on Ashcroft Lane. Neighbors in the quiet neighborhood off Hedgecoxe Road reported seeing multiple people running down the alley and getting into the car. 

The car’s headlights go off and the parking lights remain on as it drives away in the video. The vehicle could be seen driving westbound on Ashcroft and then turn onto Case Drive, police reported.

Collinvitti moved into the middle-class Plano neighborhood in 2000 with his wife, Cindy, a software engineer he met while working at Texas Instruments. The couple had been married for 27 years. He was getting ready to retire from Raytheon after a 35-year career. 

Keys is being held in the Collin County Detention Center.  Walker is at the Tarrant County Detention Center, and Malin is in custody at the Yazoo City Federal Correctional Institution in Mississippi.