Teen guilty in 2005 murder of Senegalese pre-med student

VIRGINIA BEACH - A 15-year-old was found guilty of first-degree murder Friday in the 2005 slaying of a Senegalese pre-med student in the Lake Edward section of the city.

Patrick T. Eleazer also was found guilty of robbery and conspiracy by the jury, which took about one hour to reach a verdict after a four- day trial.

Eleazer, who was 14 at the time of the incident, will be sentenced by Circuit Judge Patricia L. West in September.

West could sentence Eleazer to as much as life in prison, or she could treat him as a juvenile and sentence him to detention. Eleazer was tried as an adult.

During the trial, Eleazer did not deny being present when Alhamdou Lillahi Ndong, 25, was stabbed to death in the laundry room of the apartment complex where Ndong lived.

Eleazer admitted helping to cover up the crime and stealing Ndong's car.

Prosecutors said the motive was robbery. They said Eleazer set the crime in motion because he knew that Ndong - who was Eleazer's uncle through marriage - had money and a car.

Eleazer said another teenager - Stefon Bradley - wielded the knife that killed Ndong.

It was Bradley's testimony against Eleazer on Wednesday that prosecutors used to seal the murder conviction. Bradley, who was 13 at the time, said Eleazer stabbed Ndong three times.

The third teen charged in the crime, Xavier Wright, initiated the assault, stabbing Ndong three times before passing the weapon to Eleazer, Bradley testified.

Wright, 15, is scheduled to be tried in September. Bradley, 14, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to seven years of juvenile detention. He agreed to testify against the other teens.

Ndong was one semester shy of graduation from Old Dominion University when he was killed, according to Ndong's friends, many of whom belong to the small contingent of West African expatriates who call South Hampton Roads their temporary home.

Ndong was killed July 5, 2005, but his body was not found for days. A man walking his dog found it deep in the woods behind the apartment complex.

That is where the assailants dragged Ndong after briefly storing the body in a laundry room closet following the assault.

Prosecutor Philip C. Hollowell said Eleazer lured Ndong to the laundry room by claiming he had a leg injury.

After that, Ndong was knocked down and stabbed, Hollowell said.

Ndong was well-known to Eleazer because Ndong had married Eleazer's aunt, Sharon Eleazer.

She testified that the marriage was one of convenience.

It allowed Ndong to remain in the United States to pursue his undergraduate degree, Ndong's father, Mafode' Ndong, said Friday.

"I did not approve," said his father, who works with the Senegal foreign office in Dakar and traveled to Virginia Beach to attend the trial.

Speaking through a translator, Mafode' Ndong, 57, said that his son had a strong desire to finish school and that marrying was one way he could stay in the United States.

"There wasn't much I could do," he said.

Mafode' Ndong, who is a Muslim, said he was impressed by the prosecutors in the case and has gained a new respect for the American legal system.

"I did not know that the U.S. cares so much about human rights," Ndong said after the verdict.