MIAMI, May 1 -- A 23-year-old Miami man was arrested Wednesday in the beating deaths of his former girlfriend, Timwanika Lumpkins, and University of Miami football player Marlin Barnes, police said. Labrant Dennis, 23, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the beating deaths that happened before dawn April 13 in Barnes' dormitory room on the university campus, said Frank Boni, assistant director of public safety. He said a telephone call to a county 'Crimestoppers' number led to the arrest and booking at 2 a.m. Wednesday. The arrest was made without incident, and Dennis made no statement about the crime, he said. Dennis had been a suspect since shortly after the beatings, but police initially believed he was at a nightclub at the time of the deaths. After conducting more than 100 interviews, police said they found the alibi was not substantiated. 'He did have an alibi, but as a result of the investigation along with the Crimestoppers tip we were able to discredit the alibi,' Boni said. Investigators also said they had found the murder weapon, a shotgun used to beat the pair, in a culvert in north Dade County. Investigators also initially said they were checking reports that Dennis may have threatened Lumpkins after bumping into her and Barnes at a nightclub hours before the murder. Boni said Wednesday there was no such confrontation that night. Dennis and Lumpkins had lived together for four years and had a 3- year-old daughter, Antonesha.
Police said the couple broke up after a fight a week before the killings, but Dennis' family members said they appeared to be getting back together. Lumpkins' grandmother, Elizabeth McQueen, said Lumpkins had decided to seek a restraining order against Dennis because he had physically abused her. Dennis, 23, was a running back at Miami Edison High School and signed to play at Joliet Junior college in Illinois in 1990. He left school to help form a rap group. The couple was last seen alive around 5 a.m. Saturday as they left a benefit event in Miami Beach staged in conjunction with a charity basketball game between members of the NFL Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys. A Ford Explorer owned by Barnes' roommate Earl Little, a UM football teammate, that the victim had borrowed the night before the murder was found near the dormitory. The vehicle had two tires slashed while they attended the party and he had it towed back to campus shortly before the slayings. It was Little who found Lumpkins and Barnes. Lumpkins was still alive but died shortly thereafter. The killings were the first on the university campus that anyone at the school can remember. Barnes, 22, was a 6-2, 210-pound reserve linebacker who hoped to become a starter for the football team as a junior in the fall. The North Miami native had been voted the team's most improved player during spring practices, which ended three days before the murders. Barnes went to North Miami High School and Hargrave Academy before coming to the University of Miami. Lumpkins, 22, was a former basketball player at South Miami High School. State Attorney Kathy Fernandez Rundle appeared at the news conference to point out that the case involved domestic violence and 'has very little to do with university life. Domestic violence occurs wherever people live.' University President Edward 'Tad' Foote said he was pleased the case had come to an end. 'It is with a sense of real relief and gratitude that I am able to be here today,' he said. 'It has been a difficult two weeks at the university.'
