Robbers, killers and, in this case, a person cited for driving without a license---they all end up at Baltimore Central Booking and Intake, but on Wednesday, only the traffic violator didn't make it out alive.
Kenesha Gilmore had been awaiting a call from her brother to post bail when her phone rang informing her that De-Niro Bellamy was dead.
"They called me at 10:30 and told me that they found him unresponsive at 9:09 on the booking floor inside the cell and he passed away,” said Gilmore, “I'm sorry to inform you that your brother passed away."
Gilmore says her brother had shared a cell in the bullpen with other detainees who had trouble getting the corrections officers' attention that Bellamy was in trouble.
"They were begging trying to get some help for him, because he was unresponsive," she added.
Attempts to revive him were in vain, and by the time paramedics transported him to Johns Hopkins Hospital, he was gone.
"31 years old?" I asked.
"31 years old," she responded.
"No sign of any health issues?"
"No health issues. No heart problems. No anything,” said Gilmore, “He was fine. I saw him that morning."
The family is frustrated that investigators are dismissing any notion that Bellamy's death could be suspicious or that help could have come sooner for him.
"I talked to the detective again today and all I get, 'I've been doing this for 32 years. It's no trauma outside his body. It's got to be internal. Maybe he took something,'” said Gilmore, “Now you’re telling me... did he have heart problems? Now you're saying he took something. My brother isn't going to take nothing. He doesn't just do drugs. It was a traffic ticket. That's it, and now my brother's dead."
A spokesman for state corrections says at this point, there is no sign of foul play in Bellamy's death, but its internal investigations division is looking into it and it is awaiting the results of an autopsy to find out more about his cause of death.
