Derrick Burden, 24, was sentenced to two life terms for the murders of two young men in 2010 who had attended Black Gay Pride in 2010.
Burden was sentenced in Fulton County Superior Court on Dec. 13 for the killings of Samuel Blizzard, 21, a Georgia State University student from Spring Cove, Va.; and Calvin Streater, 26. He was found guilty of two counts of murder, six counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery and weapons offenses.
Streater and Blizzard were found shot to death Sept. 5, 2010, inside the Richmond Circle apartment in Southeast Atlanta that belonged to Blizzard’s cousin.
According to police, Streater was visiting Atlanta from North Carolina for Black Gay Pride, held every year over Labor Day weekend.
Burden followed Streater to the apartment to hang out for a few hours. Later that same day, Burden returned to rob and kill Streater and Blizzard, according to police.
During the trial, police evidence revealed that Burden forced Blizzard to his knees before shooting him in the back of the head. Burden then stole Blizzard’s laptop. Streater was shot and killed in a back bedroom.
The trial was presided over by Fulton Superior Court Judge Jackson Bedford.
From the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office:
The men were shot and killed on September 5, 2010 inside the Richmond Circle townhome where they were staying. Streater’s body was discovered in a rear bedroom with a gunshot wound to the side of the head. The victim, who was visiting town from North Carolina to celebrate Black Gay Pride weekend with friends, was resting before going out for the night. Samuel Blizzard’s body was discovered in the front room slumped over the sofa. He was forced to kneel before being shot in the back of the head. He was temporarily living at the townhome with his cousin — one of the residents who returned home to the tragic crime scene.
According to the investigation, Defendant Burden met Calvin Streater earlier in the day at a local convenience store and visited with him at the townhome for a few hours. He returned later that evening to rob and kill the victims. Shortly after the murders, Defendant Burden was briefly detained by homeowners in a nearby subdivision who found him suspiciously lurking on their property. When police arrived, Burden fled the scene leaving behind a bag containing a laptop which police later determined was stolen from victim Samuel Blizzard. The bag also contained a gun which was later determined to be the murder weapon. DNA from a cigarette butt at the murder scene also linked Burden to the crime. He was arrested following a positive identification in a photographic line-up.
Burden was arrested April 22, 2012, by the Atlanta Police Department’s Fugitive Unit. Police said robbery, not hate crime, was the likely motive in the killings.
In an interview in September 2010, Major Keith Meadows described the scene of the killings to GA Voice and the ongoing investigation.
Meadows said Blizzard and Streater were killed execution style with gunshots to the head. There was no sign of forced entry.
Blizzard was found dead in the living room while Streater was found dead in a back room that was used as a bedroom. There were no signs of a struggle.
Some of the witnesses questioned said they had seen one of the victims, Streater, at Black Gay Pride with someone they didn’t know.
“Their sexual orientation and the actual murders themselves — at this point it appears to be a non-issue for us. We have to eliminate possibilities. Everything they did that day will play a role [in solving the case],” Meadows told the GA Voice in 2010.
Top photo: Derrick Dnorris Burden (via Fulton County Sheriff’s Department)