How Wilmington police identified a woman accused in a fatal attack

Moments before witnesses saw a woman “senselessly” beat another woman to death in Wilmington, the suspect drew hearts with her initials in the dust on nearby car windows, court documents say.

Laverne Sealey is being held in jail on $140,000 cash bond for the Oct. 24 attack. The 31-year-old is accused of killing 49-year-old Lisa Fakis.

According to court documents, Wilmington officers responded to the 200 block of N. Lombard St. just after 9 p.m. after receiving 911 calls that Fakis was unresponsive. There they found her “bleeding profusely” from her head, police said.

Police tried to help the woman, but she died at the scene, according to court documents. Wilmington police previously said Fakis’ death was confirmed at the hospital.

Detectives found two ‘significant’ bloodstains nearby, believed to be from where Fakis was attacked. Witnesses later told police she had walked some distance from where she was beaten before collapsing.

The police were able to find out what had happened through ‘numerous’ witnesses.

What led to the attack?

According to witness statements in court documents, residents of the area saw a black woman, later identified as Sealey, walking through the area shortly before the attack. She wore navy blue pants that looked like scrubs, a black hooded sweatshirt, “visible” red lipstick, and a brown wig.

At one point, she placed several items she had with her in two separate cars and used her finger to draw in the dust on the cars. Police later saw hearts and Sealey’s initials, “LS,” on the rear windows.

Then she started reading a book.

Not long afterward, witnesses told police, they saw her “senselessly attacking” Fakis. It is not clear where Fakis had been before the attack or whether she and Sealey knew each other.

Sealey repeatedly punched Fakis in the head and then dragged her in and out of the street, court documents show. She also took Fakis’ backpack, witnesses told police.

After the attack, Sealey left the area. Fakis, meanwhile, staggered “incoherently” towards the witnesses before collapsing, where police found her.

Red lipstick may have helped ID Sealey

After speaking with witnesses and getting a description of Sealey, police passed the information on to patrol officers, according to court documents.

“Moments later,” a detective wrote in an arrest warrant, patrol officers found a woman walking down Front Street who matched the “exact description” of what witnesses had said.

Officers stopped Sealey and discovered she had protruding capiases. They arrested her on the warrants and then returned her to the scene of the attack, court documents say.

The witnesses, who were still being interviewed, identified Sealey as the one responsible for Fakis’ death, according to an arrest warrant. The warrant also says a man may have been involved in the attack, although details remain unclear.

Sealey remains in jail.

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