# Police: Man Killed Trying To Stop Car Thief



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Police: Man Killed Trying To Stop Car Thief

A Lawrence man will be charged with murder Friday after he allegedly tried to steal a car and the owner was dragged and killed while trying to stop him. 
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_Roy Dowds Jr. Charged With Murder_

*DANVERS, Mass. -- *A Lawrence man was charged with murder Friday after he allegedly tried to steal a car and the owner was dragged and killed while trying to stop him, police said.

NewsCenter 5's Jorge Quiroga reported that the incident happened on Route 114 in Danvers Thursday night.

Roy Dowds Jr., 31, pleaded not guilty in Salem District Court to charges of murder, larceny of a motor vehicle, subsequent offense, leaving the scene of an accident after causing personal injury and death, operating under the influence of liquor and operating with a suspended license.

"(Dowds) conceded that if it was required, he would run into anything and around anything to get this victim off of the car," said prosecutor Elizabeth Satelmayer.

The driver Keith Koster, 20, of Boxford, was later pronounced dead at Beverly Hospital. He was the nephew of New York City Fire Chief Peter Ganci, who was killed on Sept. 11, 2001.

Police think when Koster saw his Ford Explorer driving away at about 7:30 p.m., he tried to stop the thief by jumping on the side.

"This guy came whipping by me at probably 60 mph and had the kid on the side of his truck," said witness Jeff Snow.

"In the end it was, you know, unbelievable what the gentleman was trying to do to get him off the car and next thing we know, we heard a crash," witness Jeff Gibeley said.

Koster, a graduate of Masconomet Regional High School in Topsfield and a sophomore at North Shore Community College, worked at Giblee's Tuxedo in Danvers.

"The guy tried to swerve to shake it, to shake the guy off the truck and lost control and whipped around and he hit the curb and the truck actually went airborne," Snow said.

The SUV slammed into a row of minivans at Ira Dodge. Dowds was arrested a short time later at a neighboring car dealership.

"He must have run and came around and came through the tunnel here and the tunnel runs right underneath (Route) 114 and he was just walking over that way, soaking wet," said witness Fred Armstrong.

"Keith was a great kid. We all liked him very much. He was a great worker, an honest kid, very friendly," Gibeley said.

Dowds, a convicted car thief, was ordered held without bail and will return to court on June 2.

*Previous Stories:* 

May 5, 2006: Man Fatally Injured Trying To Stop Car Thief 


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