Christina Hall

Detroit Free Press

Anthony Iannotti had shaved off his dark brown hair, along with his beard and mustache, while on the lam, but police say they knew they had caught the suspect in last week's slaying of a Warren woman when he opened his mouth.

It was his teeth, Shelby Township police said, that gave Iannotti away. They said he has "a unique bite."

Iannotti, 35, was arrested Monday after police said he tried to break into a Shelby Township home, where the homeowner and a 2½-year-old boy took refuge in a bathroom and called 911. He was caught about a half-mile away

Police have been searching for Iannotti since last Wednesday when authorities say he killed a 61-year-old Warren woman and stole her car.

During his arraignment Monday afternoon in district court in Warren, Iannotti refused to give his name, saying: "not without a lawyer. I've asked for two days to see a lawyer."

The arraignment wrapped up a traumatic week for the family of Dona Lawrence and those who know Iannotti, including his wife, whom he was accused of attempting to strangle in a prior case. Authorities said he showed up early Saturday morning at his mother-in-law's house in Shelby Township, where his father-in-law fired a couple of shots with a gun, forcing Iannotti to flee.

Between Saturday and today, township police said, he changed his appearance by going bald and becoming clean-shaven.

Iannotti is being held without bond on first-degree homicide, felony murder and other charges in connection with Lawrence's slaying. He is accused of killing her and taking her vehicle, which was found in Royal Oak Township. Her family found her body when they went to check on her in her unit at Williamsburg East Apartments. Witnesses told police that a man was banging on her door, appearing agitated, and calling her name. The same man was seen leaving in her vehicle.

Warren Mayor Jim Fouts said that the theory is "that he went over there to get her vehicle, and she wouldn't let him have it."

Lawrence was a friend of one of Iannotti's relatives.

Warren police said the murder occurred the day after Iannotti was bonded out of jail by a relative through a bail bondsman in the strangulation case. He then cut a tether he was wearing and tried to break into his home in Warren, where a judge previously ordered him to have no contact with the residence or his wife, a police detective said.

According to a video of a news conference posted on Shelby Township police's Facebook page, Chief Robert Shelide said that at 8:53 a.m. Monday a homeowner at 46100 Ryan reported a break-in at the back of her house by a white man with a bald head. Officers arrived within "one minute," Shelide said the woman, 34, hid and locked herself and a 2½-year-old boy in an upstairs bathroom while providing crucial information to dispatch.

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Shelide said the burglar had left, but officers went through heavy woods and brush for about a half-mile to Spring Hill Apartments and the clubhouse area where they spotted Iannotti and ordered him to the ground using patrol rifles.

Officers rolled him over and yelled into a police radio "Iannotti," the chief said in the posted video. Iannotti's identity was verified through an electronic scan by the U.S. Marshals Service, and he was turned over to Warren police.

One of the officers said in the posted video that Iannotti's teeth — "a unique bite" — helped them initially identify him.

Shelide said in the posted video that his officers acted "courageously and heroic." He said is "appalled" at Iannotti's record and asked "at what point is someone gonna lock him up?"

A Warren police detective told the court that Iannotti has a criminal history dating to 2002, having been found guilty of domestic violence, fleeing police and felonious assault in addition to other convictions and the pending assault by strangulation case.

"He's dangerous. He's elusive," the detective told the court.

Iannotti's next court date is Aug. 30.

Iannotti's wife attended the arraignment, but declined to comment.

Ronald Kosinski, whose wife is the mother of one of Iannotti's children, said after the arraignment "we're relieved to know he's behind bars."

His wife agreed.

"I think there is a great sigh of relief when someone so dangerous has been caught," Emily Kosinski said. "We have peace of mind."

Contact Christina Hall: chall99@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.