A St. Thomas man wanted in the killing of 23-year-old Asani Henry was arrested without incident outside an apartment complex in Orange County, Florida, on September 28, bringing an end to a three-month manhunt that stretched from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Central Florida. Jah’sheem Graham, 23, now sits in Florida custody awaiting extradition back to the territory, where he faces trial on charges of aiding and abetting first-degree murder.
Graham and a second suspect are accused of carrying out Henry’s murder, according to law enforcement officials, as reported by Tampa Free Press. Henry was shot and killed on June 16 in the Hospital Ground area of St. Thomas, where emergency medical technicians pronounced him dead at the scene after finding him unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Virgin Islands Police Department. VIPD officers had responded to the Hospital Ground neighborhood following 911 calls reporting gunfire.
Graham fled the Virgin Islands just two days after the shooting, according to Tampa Free Press. Local detectives in the territory asked federal authorities for help finding and capturing him, and investigators eventually tracked him to Orlando.
A Day of Violence Set the Case in Motion
Henry’s death was part of a brutal stretch for the territory. His killing occurred during a single-day surge in violence on June 16, when three homicides were committed in under three hours across St. Thomas and St. Croix, making it one of the territory’s deadliest days of the year, according to the Virgin Islands Consortium. The other victims that day were identified as 55-year-old Fitzroy Wattley and 20-year-old Amani Daley.
As of mid-June, Henry’s death marked the ninth homicide recorded on St. Thomas and pushed the territory-wide homicide total to 20 for the year, split evenly between St. Thomas and St. Croix, per the St. Thomas Source. The following day, VIPD officials and Lieutenant Governor Tregenza Roach held a territory-wide press briefing urging public cooperation and emphasizing that all homicides are thoroughly investigated regardless of a victim’s background. Police at the briefing noted that several recent victims had prior interactions with law enforcement.
How Marshals Closed In On Graham
The VIPD formally requested federal assistance on September 23, leveraging the U.S. Marshals Service District of the Virgin Islands to share intelligence with mainland officers in Florida, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. That handoff gave detectives and federal investigators the lead that eventually brought them to Orlando, where marshals worked alongside the Orange County Sheriff’s Office felony team to locate Graham outside the apartment complex and take him into custody.
The arrest was carried out by the U.S. Marshals Service Florida/Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force, headquartered in Orlando. The task force was formed in July 2008 under the Presidential Threat Protection Act of 2000 and partners with more than 90 federal, state, and local agencies across 11 offices spanning Florida and the Caribbean, per the task force’s own description. Since its creation, it has apprehended more than 58,000 violent fugitives across its operating region, including over 1,500 felony arrests in Florida during just the first half of 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
What Graham Faces Under Virgin Islands Law
Graham is now held in Florida custody and awaits formal extradition to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he will stand trial. Under Title 14, Section 11 of the Virgin Islands Code, anyone who aids, abets, counsels, or procures the commission of a crime is punishable as a principal actor, meaning an aiding-and-abetting first-degree murder charge carries the same statutory penalties as committing the murder directly, according to the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands.
The case lands against a backdrop of persistently high gun violence in the territory. Historical research from the Giffords Law Center indicates that firearm homicide rates in the U.S. Virgin Islands consistently rank among the highest of any U.S. state or territory, with per capita violent crime rates comparable to major U.S. metropolitan areas. It is unclear, based on available reporting, what the custody status of the second suspect accused alongside Graham currently is, and a formal extradition schedule for transferring him from Central Florida to the Virgin Islands Superior Court has not been detailed.
