Who killed Javan and Markus Rogers? Akron brothers’ murders remain unsolved after 21 years

In August 2002, Javan Rogers was abducted at gunpoint and forced into a minivan in the garage of his West Akron home.

The next morning, the 24-year-old was found dead on the side of the road in Youngstown. He had been shot in the head. His hands were bound behind his back and duct tape covered his mouth and eyes.

Three months later, Markus Rogers, Javan’s younger brother, was found dead in the garage of his Akron home. Like Javan, the 22-year-old had been shot.

After 21 years, the murders of Javan and Markus Rogers are unsolved — and remain Akron’s only cold homicide cases involving two brothers.

A Youngstown man was arrested in Javan’s slaying in 2007, but prosecutors dropped the charges against him because of a mix-up involving the shell casing that was the key evidence in the case.

No one has ever been charged in Markus’ death.

Akron detectives, who aren’t sure if the slayings are linked, said they believe it will take a person coming forward with new information for either case to be solved.

“We know there’s more than one person involved,” detective Jim Pasheilich said. “So, if, for whatever reason — that person gets a conscience or is looking at some heavy time — decided, ‘Am I finally gonna tell the truth about this?’ I mean, you can always have that.”

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Family members of the two young men didn’t want to talk about the slayings, either out of fear or grief — or both.

But Tamika Rogers, Javan’s fiancee, shared her memories of the man she thought she’d be with forever — and the sorrow over his loss — in an email. Rogers was pregnant with Javan’s daughter when he was killed.

“Javan was my everything at that time in my life,” said Rogers, whose maiden name was Williamson. “Then, he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered. My entire world was turned upside down and our plans shattered by the hands of someone else.”

Brothers ‘like twins,’ grandmother says

Javan “J-Moe” and “Money Marc” Markus Rogers were producers and owned Hillbilly Records, a local rap music company.

The grandmother of Markus and Javan told the Beacon Journal in December 2002 that the brothers were inseparable.

“They were like twins,” she said. “I’ve never seen two brothers as close.”

The brothers each had a young child and were expecting a second baby when they were killed.

Tamika Rogers, Javan’s fiancee, said he was “an amazing partner, son, grandson, brother, uncle, father, and friend, who loved his family and friends.” She said Javan’s grandmother and mother were important to him and he showed how much he cared for them.

“He was a positive leader,” Rogers said. “He was a protector. He was kind and giving — always made sure we were taken care of.”

Rogers said Javan hosted birthday and record-release parties that many enjoyed.

“The entire city looked forward to his events,” she said.

Javan abducted and killed

Javan was abducted about 10:30 p.m. Aug. 26, 2002, from the garage area of his home in the 100 block of North Portage Path by two men with guns.

The men were driving a blue minivan — possibly a Dodge or Chrysler — and wearing masks, hoods, blue T-shirts and blue shorts, police said.

Lt. Dave Whiddon recalls being alarmed when they heard about Javan’s abduction from his neighbors, who were initially reluctant to call police out of fear for their own safety.

“I remember we listened to the call and we’re like: ‘This isn’t good. This isn’t going to end well,’ ” Whiddon said.

Javan Rogers Abduction 2 by Stephanie Lawrence on Scribd

Whiddon was right.

The next morning, Javan was found dead on the west side of Youngstown. He had been shot twice in the back of the head and was naked, with his hands bound behind his back.

Javan Rogers Homicide Report by Stephanie Lawrence on Scribd

Police said they weren’t sure of a motive, though they thought drugs may have been involved. Javan spent 10 months in prison for drug trafficking and was released in March 1998.

Detectives interviewed dozens of people and heard that someone demanded a $100,000 ransom after Javan was abducted, possibly asking for the money from his brother Markus.

Markus, however, wasn’t willing to share what he knew with detectives.

“That was the hard part with all of this,” Pasheilich said.

Markus found shot to death

Three months later, on Thanksgiving morning, Markus was found dead in the garage of his Timber Top apartment in Akron.

He had been shot multiple times and attempted to defend himself by returning fire.

“It looked like there was probably a shootout in there,” Pasheilich said, noting that police determined at least two weapons had been fired.

Markus Rogers Report by Stephanie Lawrence on Scribd

However, detectives, didn’t recover any guns. They found evidence that items had been removed from the apartment before police arrived.

“There’s no witnesses,” Pasheilich said. “Nobody says they hear anything. Nobody said they saw a thing.”

The Rogers family had now lost two members within a few months, with no idea who was responsible.

“I lost two kids behind this and I wonder why,” their mother told the Beacon Journal in December 2002. “I pray it’s over.”

The not knowing was understandably alarming for the family.

“This needs to come to a head,” Robert Allen III, Markus and Javan’s father, said in 2002. “I don’t like that my kids, my mother, have to live in fear.”

Charges are filed, then dropped

Akron and Youngstown detectives worked on Javan’s case together because he was abducted in Akron and found dead in Youngstown.

Detectives got what appeared to be a break in the case when they matched a shell casing from Javan’s case with a gun found on a Youngstown man when he was arrested.

The 30-year-old man, who was well known to Youngstown police for serious crimes at the time, was charged with aggravated murder and kidnapping in Javan’s death in Summit County Common Pleas Court in October 2007, according to court records.

The case fell apart, though, on the eve of the trial in April 2008 when Summit County prosecutors learned that Youngstown police had switched the shell casings from Javan’s murder and a drive-by shooting case in Youngstown in which no one was injured. Prosecutors dropped the charges against the Youngstown man.

“The state of Ohio, in good faith, cannot proceed against the defendant at this time since the remaining evidence would not be sufficient to sustain a conviction,” Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Greg Peacock said in his request for the dismissal. "A trial in this case would not be in the interest of justice for either the defendant or the victim’s family.”

Now-retired Judge Patricia Cosgrove granted Peacock’s request, calling the compromised evidence “a situation that strikes at the very heart of our democracy and our justice system.”

Javan’s mother said after the dismissal that she “waited five years to get some justice, and I didn’t get it. So, I feel like the system failed me.”

The Youngstown man said he hoped detectives could find out who killed Javan so the Rogers family could “have some peace of mind.”

Brad Gessner, who was the head of the Summit County prosecutor’s criminal division in April 2008, told the Beacon Journal that he believed the Youngstown police didn’t do anything “sinister” with the shell casings.

“Mistakes happen,” said Gessner, who is now the chief counsel for the prosecutor’s office.

The Youngstown Police Department’s internal affairs division investigated the evidence mix-up, but that report no longer exists. It was purged pursuant to the department’s records retention policy, Youngstown Police Lt. Brian Butler said.

Capt. Rod Foley, who has been with the Youngtown department since 1991, said in a recent interview that he recalls that evidence from the two cases was inadvertently switched.

“It was probably just inappropriate evidence handling,” he said.

Foley said the department changed its evidence-handling policy because of what happened.

“I do remember we tried to tighten up the case handling,” Foley said. “We weren't allowed to look at evidence once it was sealed.”

Foley said he hasn’t heard anything about the Youngstown man in many years.

The Akron detectives said the Youngstown man spent time in federal prison for other charges, but they aren’t sure where he is now.

The shell casing was the main evidence in Javan’s murder case, so, without it, prosecutors had no case against him even if he was involved or among those involved.

Where the murder cases now stand

The evidence mix-up and dropped charges left detectives back where they started, with two unsolved murder cases and zero suspects.

In the 15 years since the charges were dismissed, Akron detectives haven’t gotten any new information on either Javan or Markus’ slaying.

The detectives assumed the two murders were likely linked because of the short time frame between them, but also say they might be unrelated.

One thing the detectives do believe is that both were tied to drugs.

Whiddon said the narcotics unit had undercover buys with Javan before his death. He said Markus had his own issues involving drugs and counterfeit money tied to Canton, Youngstown, Pittsburgh and Hermitage, Pennsylvania. There also was talk about ties to a Jamaican group.

“It all seemed to stem around something with the drugs — that there was something stolen or fake money was used somewhere along the line,” Pasheilich said. “Somebody got shorted.”

The detectives said they think Markus was unwilling to share information with them because he may have been involved in some illegal activities. But they wish he had been willing to talk to them.

“Everybody’s always afraid to say something bad they’ve done or illegally done, even though it has nothing to do with what you’re looking at,” Pasheilich said. “At that point, we don’t care about that. We just want to try to get to the bottom of what was going on and who did this.”

The detectives, though, remain hopeful that someone with information will come forward and help them solve one or both slayings. They know multiple people were at least involved in Javan’s abduction and there could be eyewitnesses not yet identified for both men’s murders.

Tamika Rogers hopes putting information back out in the public about Javan and Markus’ murders might generate new leads.

“I hope something positive comes out of this,” she said.

Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3705. Paula Schleis can be reached at feedback@ohiomysteries.com.

About the case

Names: Javan and Markus Rogers

Location: Javan was abducted from his North Portage Path home in Akron and shot in Youngstown. Markus was shot in Akron and left in his garage at Amber Hills Drive.

Ages: Javan, 24. Markus, 22.

Date of murders: Javan was killed Aug. 27, 2002; Markus was killed Nov. 28, 2002.

Occupation: The brothers operated a local rap music company called Hillbilly Records.

Suspects/motive: Drugs may have been involved in one or both shootings; police are not sure if they are connected.

For trips: Call the Akron Police Department’s detective bureau at 330-375-2490.

About the series:

To read past stories in this series, visit Beacon Journal.com. To listen to podcasts that are part of the series, visit the Ohio Mysteries' website. Send tips for future stories to Beacon Journal reporter Stephanie Warsmith at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Brothers Javan and Markus Rogers’ murders are unsolved 21 years later