New video could solve woman’s murder at hotel party near Johns Hopkins Hospital

By Mike Hellgren and Christian Olaniran

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    BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Baltimore police released new surveillance video in hopes the community will help identify several people in connection with the murder of a 28-year-old woman at a hotel near Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Kierra Tripp was killed on November 17 at a party inside the Residence Inn in the 800 block of North Wolfe Street, according to police.

A family member declined an interview on Wednesday but told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren that Tripp was loved, and they want the culprit arrested.

The surveillance video shows some of the people at a party at the Residence Inn adjacent to Johns Hopkins.

You can see people getting off the elevator and heading to that party. It was taken before Tripp, also known as Keedy, was shot and killed inside a hotel room around 1:30 a.m.

“We released video surveillance showing a lot of people who were there,” Baltimore Police Det. Vernon Davis said. “We don’t know if they are persons of interest. We don’t know if they are suspects, but we know that they were in that room.”

Loved ones have posted many tributes to Tripp on social media.

One relative wrote on Facebook, “When they find the person/people who did this to Kierra, I’ll be at EVERY and I mean EVERY court date …to try and make sure that they NEVER do this to another person or family!!!! Kierra is loved and missed deeply. This has changed us in so many ways….it broke us, and I may not be able to stop all killings but I’m going to try with everything in me to make sure that the person or people who KILLED Kierra Tripp never change another family’s life like they changed ours!!!”

“The question is what happened in the room,” Baltimore Police Det. Vernon Davis said. “We don’t have cameras inside the room, so that’s the thing that we need to figure out. We know that the victim went in the room with several guest members, and she didn’t come out.”

One guest of the hotel that night who asked to remain anonymous told WJZ police stopped him asking if he saw anything.

“Officers said I need your ID and all this other stuff, said, ‘We have a situation here,'” he said. “A sad situation and not the type of environment you expect that happens to, you know, especially in a secured hotel. You need a pass to get upstairs. You can’t just walk up and go on the elevator.”

Detective Davis pointed out anyone can remain anonymous with their tips.

“You can say, ‘Hey, I don’t want to leave my name, but I know who this is, you probably want to look into them,'” he said.

He confirmed police know who rented the room.

“I don’t know where investigators are at right now in that portion of the investigation speaking to that person, but it’s the partygoers that they really need to speak with who came off that elevator and went into that hotel room,” Detective Davis said.

Metro Crimes Stoppers tip line is 1-866-7-Lockup. There is an $8,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Police said at a City Council public safety hearing earlier this month, that their homicide clearance rate is 68.5%.

That is up from 42.2% the prior year.

Similarly sized cities have a clearance rate of 54.7%, and the national average is 61.4%.

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