Five years on from the death of Run DMC's Jam Master Jay, one of the witnesses to the crime has told the New York Daily News that he has co-operated completely with police in relation to the legendary hip hopper's murder, but that others have failed to do so contributing to the authority's failure to solve the crime. Randy Allen, a business partner of Jay, tells the paper "This is a case that can be solved".
Allen also reveals that the gunman who killed the Run DMC DJ at a New York studio on 30 Oct 2002 had a particularly distinguishing feature - a tattooed neck. Allen and his sister Lydia High were at the studio at the time of the shooting, and as such both were key witnesses in the case - so much so High was at one time reportedly under protective custody. In the new interview Allen says he was elsewhere in the building at the time of the shooting, but that his sister was by the entrance and witnessed the crime. Two men entered the studio, telling High to get down on the floor. From there she saw a man with a tattoo on his neck approach Jay, who seemed to recognise him. Shots were then fired, one hitting the leg of Jay's friend Tony Rincon, who was also with him at the time of the killing, the other going through Jay's head at point blank range.
Allen goes on to say that High identified the killer as convicted drug dealer and Jay associate Ronald 'Tinard' Washington. He was also linked to the murder by an unnamed witness (possibly High) back in April while he was being investigated about his alleged involvement in six armed robberies, but he claims that while he was at the studio on the night of the killing he was there at Jay's request to offer protection and that he was not involved in the murder.
Returning to the solvability of the case Allen, who at one time was himself accused of involvement in the shooting, says he is particularly angry with Rincon who, he claims, unlike himself has not cooperated with police investigating the murder. He concludes: "This is not a Biggie Smalls or Tupac case. This is a case that can be solved. The person they have locked up who was involved with it is a person from the neighborhood. It's not like we're talking about somebody who flew in from LA. We're talking about people right from the neighbourhood".