Linus "Wayne" Ekene Sentenced to 29 Years

Judge John Fisher in Van Nuys Municipal Court at Dept N, 6th Floor, today sentenced Linus "Wayne" Ekene to 29 years in state prison for murdering Okon Nelson Offem on January 10, 1997 over an inexplicable business dispute.

When I spoke to Deputy District Attorney, Andre Maurice Holmes yesterday who prosecuted the case, he said Judge Fisher had rescheduled the sentencing for the next day to allow Detective Timothy Kirkpatrick who was handling the case the convenience to appear for the sentencing. However, Detective Kirkpatrick, due to conflicting schedules did not show up. Speaking with Kirkpatrick after the sentencing, he said "I couldn't make it."

Ekene who had been on the run for nearly a decade was arrested sometime last year in Utah on a misdeamenor battery charge for hitting a co-worker with a baseball bat. With series of crimes in Las Vegas and a rape charge filed against him by the Los Angeles Police Department, North Hollywood Division, his fingerprints matched the ones recovered from the North Hollywood murder scene. He was immediately repartriated to California and was found guilty on all charges on Monday, July 9, 2007.