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Justin Fenton

Justin

Justin Fenton is an investigative reporter for the Baltimore Banner. He previously spent 17 years at the Baltimore Sun, covering the criminal justice system. His book, "We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops and Corruption," was released by Random House in 2021 and became an HBO miniseries. He was part of the Pulitzer Prize finalist team for coverage of the death of Freddie Gray, and was a two-time finalist for the national Livingston Award for Young Journalists for an investigation showing how police were discarding rape complaints at the highest rate in the country as well as a five-part narrative series inside a homicide investigation. He is an Anne Arundel County native, a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park and lives in Baltimore.

The latest from Justin Fenton

Alleged leader of cultlike ‘Zizian’ group pleads not guilty to federal gun charge
Ziz LaSota gave meandering answers at her initial appearance and arraignment in U.S. District Court related to a Western Maryland gun arrest, which ended what had been a cross-country search.
Nov 24, 2025
Jack ‘Ziz’ LaSota, the apparent leader of the Zizians, a cult-like group tied to at least six deaths, was arrested Sunday evening in western Maryland. LaSota, who uses she/her pronouns, is being held in the Allegany County jail.
‘Real Housewives of Potomac’ stars used aliases and 40 credit cards, prosecutors say
“Real Housewives of Potomac” star Wendy Osefo and her husband, Eddie Osefo, are accused of using aliases and dozens of credit cards in new court documents.
Updated Nov 20, 2025
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 08: Eddie Osefo and Wendy Osefo attend Tyler Perry's "Divorce In The Black" New York Premiere at Regal Times Square on July 08, 2024 in New York City.
Baltimore Police commander, 3 others suspended amid California criminal investigation
Four members of the Baltimore Police Department are suspended amid a criminal investigation in California, the department confirmed Monday.
Updated Nov 17, 2025
BPD's Major Etwaroo, along with the Eastern District's NCOs, BPD’s Chaplains, and the Victim Services Unit, recently joined the Oliver Community to provide essential resources and support to those affected by recent incidents. Aug 23, 2024
Man arrested after couple shot dead in Anne Arundel County home
Anne Arundel County Police are conducting a homicide investigation after a man and a woman were found shot to death inside a home in Pasadena on Sunday.
Updated Nov 17, 2025
A Baltimore County police vehicle’s lights flash while parked outside of the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, Md. on Thursday, March 13, 2025.
Man charged in 2022 Stricker Street blaze that killed 3 Baltimore firefighters
More than three years after three Baltimore firefighters died battling a blaze in vacant buildings on Stricker Street, James Barnett is charged with their deaths.
Updated Nov 15, 2025
A gap between homes in the 200 block of S. Stricker St. marks the spot where a vacant home burned and collapsed, killing three Baltimore firefighters.
What does the founder of Tov Pizza have to do with Dalya Attar’s case?
A member of the Baltimore City Democratic State Central Committee for the 41st District, Ronald Rosenbluth, 62, is a fixture in political and Jewish civic circles.
Nov 13, 2025
Baltimore City Del. Dalya Attar sits in the House of Delegates chamber in the Maryland State House on January 31, 2024.
Baltimore officer shown in viral video charged with attempted murder
A Baltimore Police officer shown in a viral video chasing and then striking a man with his vehicle, has been indicted for attempted murder, authorities said Wednesday.
Updated Nov 12, 2025
A screenshot from a video posted to social media shows Officer Robert A. Parks chasing a man who was on foot by driving after him in a police vehicle.
Baltimore Police officer, suspended after viral chase video, loses pay
Officer Robert A. Parks, the Baltimore Police officer seen in a viral video driving his car at a man in Northwest Baltimore, had been suspended with pay since Oct. 30; now he’s been suspended without pay.
Updated Nov 12, 2025
A screenshot from a video posted to social media shows a now-suspended Baltimore Police officer chasing a man who was running away on foot by driving after him through the city streets.
Baltimore Police launch raids tied to Penn North mass overdose events
Authorities carried out pre-dawn raids and made arrests in the city Wednesday as part of a continuing investigation, sources familiar with the matter said.
Nov 12, 2025
Baltimore Police and law enforcement partners carry out raids and make arrests before dawn Wednesday as part of the continuing investigation into the mass overdose incident in Penn North in July that sent nearly three-dozen people to the hospital. In the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood on Wednesday morning.
Anthony Barksdale, deputy mayor and former deputy Baltimore Police commissioner, dies
Anthony Barksdale, Baltimore’s deputy mayor for public safety and a former deputy police commissioner, died Thursday. He was 53.
Updated Nov 7, 2025
Anthony Barksdale, a former acting Baltimore police commissioner (who directed operations for the Police Department from 2007 to 2012) and often vocal critic of the Baltimore Police Department, has been named deputy mayor for public safety, Mayor Brandon Scott announced Friday 7/8/2022.
This furniture chain owner became a Baltimore cop. Now he’s federally indicted.
Kalman Finkelstein was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly being part of a blackmail scheme involving a Democratic state senator and former city prosecutor, Dalya Attar.
Oct 31, 2025
Officer Kalman Finkelstein was named the Northern District Officer of the Month for the Baltimore Police Department in May 2020.
Baltimore Police identify suspended officer seen in viral video chasing man with cruiser
Robert A. Parks, who has been on the force since 2020, is the officer under investigation, confirmed Lindsey Eldridge, a Baltimore Police Department spokesperson.
Updated Oct 30, 2025
A screenshot from a video posted to social media shows a now-suspended Baltimore Police officer chasing a man who was running away on foot by driving after him through the city streets.
Ex-Dunbar football coach pleads guilty to stealing overtime pay
Lawrence Smith admitted that in his role as a school police detective for the district, he routinely claimed to be providing security at COVID-19 testing and food sites or assisting other law enforcement agencies.
Updated Oct 17, 2025
Former Dunbar football coach Lawrence Smith leaves US District Court in Baltimore on Friday afternoon after pleading guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion related to $215,000 in overtime pay he collected as a city schools police officer for hours that he did not actually work.
Ex-Baltimore cop Daniel Hersl, who served time for the Gun Trace Task Force corruption scandal, dies
Hersl was released early in January, after serving about eight years of his 18-year prison sentence, due to cancer.
Oct 17, 2025
An undated photo provided by the Baltimore Police Department of Detective Daniel Hersl.
Top Maryland prosecutors who investigated police-involved deaths will leave posts
Allison Green, chief of the Maryland attorney general’s office’s Independent Investigations Division, and her deputy, Renee Joy, have resigned, office spokesperson Jennifer Donelan said in a statement. Both will leave the office after this week.
Oct 14, 2025
Sources said last week that Allison Green had left as chief of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office’s Independent Investigations Division.
Maryland State Police Secretary Butler is out; senator tapped as new top trooper
Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., the first Black person to lead the agency, is out as Maryland State Police secretary, with a former Prince George’s County sheriff and state senator tapped as his replacement, Gov. Wes Moore announced.
Oct 10, 2025
Col. Roland L. Butler Jr. during a community walk in Northwest Baltimore in September.
‘Real Housewives of Potomac’ star charged with lying about Carroll County home burglary
Wendy Osefo and her husband, Eddie, cast members on Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Potomac," allegedly lied about their house being burglarized in Carroll County.
Updated Oct 10, 2025
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 08: Eddie Osefo and Wendy Osefo attend Tyler Perry's "Divorce In The Black" New York Premiere at Regal Times Square on July 08, 2024 in New York City.
The Baltimore gang leader who quietly became a star informant
Former Black Guerrilla Family leader Ricky Evans has been waiting seven years to be sentenced. That's because he's spent that time helping authorities make other cases.
Oct 9, 2025
Baltimore investigators unable so far to determine cause of Superblock fire
The fire broke out on Sept. 2, just before 3 p.m., with a witness reporting he saw flames on the rear roof of a building in the 200 block of W. Fayette St., according to the incident report.
Updated Sep 26, 2025
TUESDAY, SEPT. 2, 2025 — A fire in a four-story vacant building in the 200 block of W. Fayette Street on Tuesday.
Baltimore man was exonerated after 20 years behind bars. But did he fool prosecutors?
Exonerated of the crime, Melvin Thomas, now 45, collected $1.6 million in wrongful conviction compensation from the state in 2021. But he wanted the city to pay, too, and filed a lawsuit against the police department and officers involved with the case.
Sep 26, 2025
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