2D SLAYING ON VINEYARD LINKED TO DRUG TRAFFICKING

OAK BLUFFS - Crack cocaine and the bloodshed that seems to inevitably
follow the dangerous drug has apparently arrived on Martha's Vineyard, an
island renowned for its serenity and seclusion.

Late Thursday evening, police were called to the scene of a Highland Avenue
stabbing, and they arrived to find 31-year-old island resident George
DeSouza Centeio dying on the dirt road.

A long kitchen knife had been plunged into Centeio's heart, said Oak Bluffs
Police Chief Joseph Carter. The weapon was recovered at the scene. Centeio
was pronounced dead about 11 p.m. at Martha's Vineyard Regional Hospital.

The Thursday night killing comes just five months after the first island
homicide in 20 years. Police believe that killing, too, was linked to crack
cocaine.

''There is drug activity on the island, and it's no different than any
other hamlet, city or town in America,'' said Carter, reached by telephone
yesterday.

Police arrested a suspect in the hour following the stabbing, and they
believe that 22-year-old Rennard Stephenson was high on cocaine that night.

Many residents and island officials are struggling with the realization
that they have little protection from big-city drug problems.

''I used to brag that the island was free of all that stuff you see on the
news,'' said Oak Bluffs Selectwoman Linda Marinelli. ''But now I have to
face it. There's a lot of hidden drug use here.

''As a selectman, I want to give our police chief every authority to do
something and make this place free of all that again - for my children and
grandchildren.''

Longtime islander Jib Ellis said word of the homicide - and the alleged
drug connection - was spreading quickly across the island.

Ellis, who helps take the island census, suggested that law enforcement
''put a police dog on the ferry coming over from New Bedford,'' referring
to that city's struggle against crack cocaine dealers who have made their
homes there.

Police said that Oak Bluffs Police Officer Timothy Williamson spotted
Stephenson a few blocks away from the stabbing scene Thursday night, and
chased him on foot before tackling him.

Stephenson was ordered held without bail yesterday morning following
arraignment in the Edgartown District courthouse. He was allegedly wearing
bloodstained clothes when he was arrested, and police say he was identified
by witnesses as the man who repeatedly plunged a knife into Centeio's chest.

One law enforcement source said yesterday that police are anxious to
question a teenager they believe is Stephenson's girlfriend, an island
resident who was also alleged to be the girlfriend of the man arrested in
the last island killing.

A Boston man, Troy Toon, has been charged with the July 11 Oak Bluffs
stabbing death of a well-known islander, 37-year-old Gary Moreis.

Yesterday, investigators searched a home on Highland Avenue where
Stephenson told police he had been living.

Checked-by: Richard Lake