BREAK IN THE CASE

Two Men Charged in Run-DMC D.J. Jam Master Jay’s Mysterious, Execution-Style Murder Case

With few witnesses and no motive, Jam Master Jay’s murder case has remained unsolved for almost 18 years.

For almost eighteen years, Run-DMC D.J. Jam Master Jay’s murder case has remained unsolved. But on Monday law enforcement officials confirmed to The New York Times that two men have been arrested in the case. Law enforcement will announce their indictments Monday, the sources said.

Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. have been charged with murder while engaged in drug trafficking, the Times reports. Washington is 56 years old and already serving a prison sentence for robbery; police have now taken Jordan, 36, into custody.

Jam Master Jay was killed execution-style in a Queens recording studio in 2002, with few witnesses and no discernible motive. Federal prosecutors first named Washington as a suspect in the case in 2007. In court papers, prosecutors said Washington was a suspect in the 1995 slaying of Tupac Shakur associate Randy Walker—and that in Jam Master Jay’s case, he was an accomplice to an unidentified gunman.

Washington denied involvement in both killings, and the case has remained unsolved since. In 2017 the murder was ruled a cold case, and a year later Netflix released its documentary Remastered: Who Killed Jam Master Jay? A Jason Mizell Story. (Mizell is the D.J.’s legal name.)

NBC reports that a press conference with Chief Rodney Harrison and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York is set for 2:30 p.m.

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Laura BradleySenior Entertainment Reporter

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