About Cold Cases
The Howard County Police Department periodically highlights unsolved homicide investigations in the hopes of generating new tips and information. Despite lengthy and complex investigations, family members of these homicide victims are still awaiting justice for their parent, sibling or child.
Detectives are seeking information from witnesses or anyone who may have further knowledge about any of these cases. The reward for information in any cold case is up to $30,000. Anyone with information is urged to contact 410-313-STOP or email hcpdcrimetips@howardcountymd.gov. Callers may remain anonymous.
UPDATED 4/10/2025: Howard County police have arrested a suspect and charged him with two counts of murder in a 2020 shooting in Columbia that killed 30-year-old Rabiah Ahmad and forced the delivery of her baby girl Ahja, who died five days later. Edward Robinson, 31, of Columbia, is charged with two counts each of first- and second-degree murder and related assault and handgun violations.
Police continue to seek information regarding the homicide of Rabiah Ahmad, 30, and her baby Ahja on July 31, 2020. Rabiah was 28 weeks pregnant when she was shot while inside a residence in the 6600 block of Dovecote Drive in Columbia. She later died at the hospital. Doctors delivered Ahja, who remained in critical condition until she died Aug. 5.
Detectives do not believe that Ahmad was targeted and are still working to determine the motive in the shooting.
On Sept. 3, 2017, Meiko Locksley, 25, was found suffering from a gunshot wound around 10:20 p.m. in the 5500 block of Harpers Farm Road. He was transported to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Although detectives have not identified a suspect, they believe the case likely was not random. They have been looking into every potential motive, including robbery, the possibility that it may have been drug-related or the result of an ongoing dispute.
Howard County police continue to seek information regarding the homicide of Aaron Thomas Brice that occurred during a Halloween party overnight between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 2009, in the 11500 block of Manorstone Lane in Columbia.
Police received multiple calls from party-goers around 1:15 a.m., Nov. 1, indicating that shots had been fired inside the residence. Brice, 19, of Silver Spring, was found deceased at the scene. Another man, Nathaniel Quick, 22, of Columbia, was also shot and transported to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in critical condition.
Police responded to the scene and found more than 100 people at the residence.
Police continue to seek information regarding the homicide of Tamba Karmor Nyorkor.
Police were called to the 9700 block of Clocktower Lane in Columbia on Oct. 8, 2008, at approximately 7:30 p.m., after a woman reported a man inside an apartment appeared to be injured or deceased. Paramedics and police arrived and found Nyorkor dead from a gunshot wound. He was 26 years old. Also in the apartment at the time were his two toddler-age children. They were not injured.
On June 22, 2007, police responded to the 3100 block of West Springs Drive in Ellicott City for several reports of shots fired. Upon arrival, Raja was found deceased inside his Honda Accord, which had come to rest after striking two parked cars. Police determined Raja suffered a gunshot wound. He was 21 years old.
Raja was familiar with the area, having lived nearby previously. Investigators are not speculating as to motive.
On May 4, 2005, Markus Wilson Felder, 22, of Baltimore, was abducted off the street near his home in West Baltimore and was later found shot and killed on the driveway of a residence on Route 1 in Elkridge. (The property has since been redeveloped.)
Police believe the case is an apparent retaliation for a drug-related dispute.
Detectives are still working to solve the homicide of Rolando Andrade, 29, of Takoma Park. On May 1, 2003, his body was found concealed in a trash container, which had been dumped off of the roadway in the 7300 block of Guilford Road in Clarksville. He was last seen in Prince George’s County on April 26, 2003, and was reported missing on May 1.
On Oct. 5, 2002, the body of Leon Swain, 26, was located on an embankment on Browns Bridge Road at the Patuxent River. Swain died from multiple gunshot wounds. Swain was last seen on Oct. 3.
Derrick Peterson, 23, had just pulled into a parking space in front of his home in the 9600 block of Barrel House Road in Laurel on Dec. 17, 2001 when he was shot and killed. The homicide occurred at approximately 9:00 p.m.
Witnesses at the time reported seeing a black male of average height and build fleeing the scene on foot, carrying what appeared to be a bag or bulky item. He got into a waiting vehicle driven by a large black male, described as in his mid- to late 20s, six feet to six feet three inches tall, approximately 275 pounds. The vehicle was described as a four-door boxy, white sedan, similar to a Crown Victoria.
Initially, the investigation focused on a possible robbery, but investigators now believe the homicide was drug-related.
On Oct. 13, 2001, Chad Johnson, 29, was shot and killed on the footpath near the 5500 block of Green Dory Lane in Columbia.
On Sept. 6, 2000, at approximately 10 p.m., Walter Scott Cook, 20, and Demony Michael Hughes, 24, were both shot on a sidewalk in the Waverly Winds Townhouse complex in the 5600 block of Cedar Lane, Columbia.
Officers responding to the location for a report of shots fired found Cook deceased and Hughes suffering from a gunshot wound. Hughes told police they were waiting for someone to arrive so they could go to a club in Baltimore. For a while, they passed the time waiting at the basketball court in the rear of the buildings.
There was a group of unknown males hanging around the court, all wearing hoodies. Cook and Hughes returned to the parking lot area and shots were fired, striking both men. Hughes reported he did not see who fired or where the shots came from.
On Nov. 29, 1999, Jonathan Barney, 19, and Davon Mayfield, 18, were shot and killed on a footpath near the 5800 block of Stevens Forest Road in Columbia. Investigators at the time believe that they were targeted and the incident may have been drug-related.
Belinda Huber, 27, was reported missing on Feb. 26, 1997. Her remains were found on Dec. 12 in an apartment building in the 10100 block of Washington Boulevard in Laurel. The cause of death is undetermined.
Police continue to seek information regarding the homicide of a young girl in Laurel. The body of 14-year-old Teneisha Nikiya Whitfield was discovered in a stolen white Honda Accord in the 9700 block of Covered Wagon Drive on July 6, 1996 at approximately 12:30 a.m. She suffered from gunshot wounds as well as being left in the vehicle, which was set on fire.
She was last seen on July 5, 1996 when she voluntarily left an outreach program in Washington, D.C. The vehicle was reported stolen on July 2, 1996, from the Temple Hills area of Prince George’s County.
Teneisha resided with her mother on Nova Avenue in the Capital Heights neighborhood of Prince George’s County and periodically with an aunt on 21st Street in N.E. Washington, D.C. She had no obvious connection to the Laurel area.
On Sept. 3, 1992, the body of Lincoln Hosten, 23, was located in the 8300 block of Stayton Drive in Jessup. Hosten died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Sandra Taylor, 31, was reported missing on Jan. 1, 1985 after she failed to return home. Taylor’s remains were located ten years later near the 10500 block of Old Frederick Road.
On June 25, 1982, Carl Bethea, 32, was found dead on the Route 94 ramp to I-70. He died from multiple gunshot wounds. Bethea was last seen the day before by a neighbor as he walked toward a known associate’s house.
Ruth Naomi Thorp, 21, of Glen Burnie was found strangled at a hotel on U.S. 1 in Elkridge on April 14, 1982. She checked in with a man that investigators believe was a known acquaintance.
Thorp, whose maiden name was DiDomenico and grew up in Catonsville, lived in Glen Burnie at the time of her death. She was survived by her husband and their young daughter and still has family in the Catonsville area.
Police released a composite sketch of a suspect (below). He was described as a white male, 22-24 years old, five feet seven inches to five feet ten inches tall, with a slender build, light brown hair, last seen wearing blue jeans with a large, multicolored patch on the right leg and a waist-length, light blue jacket. He may have been driving a two-door American-made vehicle with white or gold pinstripes on the sides.
UPDATE 5/27/2021: After nearly 40 years, Howard County cold case investigators have charged a Laurel man with rape and murder in a 1982 kidnapping in Columbia. New DNA evidence linked Howard Jackson Bradberry, Jr., now 62, to the crime scene where the body of Laney Lee McGadney, a 28-year-old mother of four, was found. Now Bradberry is behind bars in this final chapter of a decades-old Howard County mystery.
Laney Lee (Linda) McGadney, was killed on March 29, 1982. Her body was found on a vacant lot in a yet-to-be developed subdivision in the area of Kings Contrivance in Columbia. She was 28-years-old and the mother of four children.
McGadney was last seen walking from her home on Oakland Mills Road with the intention of going shopping in the Owen Brown Village Center. Witnesses reported seeing her enter a vehicle in the area of Oakland Mills Road and Oak Hall Lane.
She was stabbed multiple times. Her body was found in a wooded area off Route 32 between Kindler Road and Hammond High School. An unknown male called police and provided detailed directions to the scene prior to the murder being reported to the public. Do you recognize this voice?
Police continue to seek information regarding the double homicide of Joseph Selby, 56, and his wife, Betty Selby, 51, on March 6, 1981. The couple died in their home at 12102 Frederick Road, Ellicott City, at approximately 9:40 p.m. They died from smoke inhalation as the result of an arson fire set inside their home while they slept.
Mr. Selby was the manager of The Enchanted Forest, the former fairytale-themed amusement park on Route 40 frequented by generations of families until its closure in 1995. Investigation would indicate that the perpetrator(s) had a grudge against them or someone in the family. It should have been obvious to the arsonist that the home was occupied at the time of the fire.
On March 26, 1980, police located the body of Michael Curry, 25, in a creek bed on Route 94 approximately one mile south of Rt. 144. Curry died of a gunshot wound. He was last seen by his family two days prior.
On Aug. 26, 1978, James Bramhall, 49, was fatally shot outside his residence in the 9100 block of Tumbleweed Run in Laurel. His wallet was also stolen. Bramhall was a retired Washington, D.C. police officer.
Frank Santmyer, 25, was last seen on Dec. 2, 1977, leaving his residence. His family later discovered his car abandoned on Ilchester Road at the Patapsco River and reported him missing on Dec. 7. Santmyer’s body was never discovered and he was later declared legally dead by the court.
On June 25, 1977, Ira Lawson, 35, was shot and killed in his residence in the 11200 block of Skilift Court in Columbia. Investigators at the time believe the incident may have been drug-related. Witnesses reported seeing two men leaving the residence shortly after the shooting.
UPDATE 3/11/2025: Howard County police have closed the 1975 homicide of Roseann Sturtz, a case that remained cold until detectives recovered lost evidence that implicated a man already serving a life sentence in prison for committing other murders during that time period. Charles William Davis Jr., has been incarcerated in the Jessup Correctional Institution since 1978.
On December 15, 1975, Roseann Michelle Sturtz, also known as Ann Sturtz, was discovered deceased in a wooded area of Oakland Ridge Industrial Park off Route 108 in Columbia.
Roseann was last seen alive in the early morning of August 24, 1975 outside the Tic Toc Club on Eutaw Street in downtown Baltimore. Later that evening, a relative reported her missing to the Baltimore Police. Several months passed and her family and friends advised they had no contact with her. Then on December 15, 1975, her body was discovered in the wooded area off Route 108 in Columbia. After the discovery of her body, Roseann went unidentified and a sketch of her likeness was posted in a newspaper. Once the sketch was made public, co-workers responded by providing her name which lead to her identification.
The investigation revealed she had sustained trauma to her body which resulted in her death.
UPDATE 9/4/2025: Howard County police have identified the Jane Doe victim from the department’s oldest cold case homicide and reunited two of her surviving adult children who were previously unaware of what had happened to their mother. Now, thanks to advances in DNA profiling and the HCPD cold case unit’s exhaustive research, police have identified her as Sadie Belle Murray, born Sept. 7, 1924, in Pennsylvania, who at the time of her death went by Sarah Belle Sharkey.
In July 1971, an unconscious woman was found in a field off of Rt. 99 east of Woodstock Road. She was hospitalized and treated for her injuries, which stemmed from an apparent assault. The woman died two months later without ever regaining consciousness. Efforts at the time to identify her were unsuccessful.
She was described as 5’ 1” and about 100 lbs. She had light brown hair that was beginning to gray and a hump in the midsection of her nose.