Police Charge Father In Killing, Dismemberment Of Daughter

Baltimore police say a 66-year-old man killed and dismembered his daughter before leaving her wrapped remains in a shopping cart.

Lawrence Banks was already in custody on firearms charges. On Thursday, he was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his daughter, 43-year-old Dominique Foster.

Banks, who lives in the 4000 block of Clarks Lane, allegedly left his daughter's remains near a dumpster at the nearby Clarks Lane Garden Apartments.

When Banks was arrested in May, police found blood, computers, cellphones, counterfeit money, a pair of boots, a yellow raincoat and a handgun with five bullets in the magazine, according to a probable cause affidavit filed at the time.

Foster's family said that Banks was her father, and the two lived together in an apartment near the crime scene. According to the affidavit, one of Foster's children told police about Banks' criminal history of murder and violence.

In 1976, Banks was sentenced to 15 years in prison for throwing a 7-month-old baby through a glass door during an argument with his wife, Vivian Banks. Before the case went to trial, Vivian Banks was found dead in an apartment. Her body was decomposed to the point that her cause of death could not be determined. No charges were ever filed in her death.

Prosecutors said that Lawrence Banks was charged with two killings after he shot a friend and his son on the same day in 1991. Court records show that he was angry because one of his children accused him of abuse. He served prison time in that case and was released in 2002.

In 2006, Lawrence Banks' then-girlfriend's daughter filed a protective order against him. She and her daughter were killed days later. Prosecutors did not find enough evidence to charge him in that case. However, his parole was revoked and he was ordered back to prison. He completed his sentence in 2014.

The new charges were not immediately available in online court records.

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Kimi Robinette contributed to this report.