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Tag: charles county sheriffu2019s office

  • Waldorf man found guilty of murdering his wife while she slept – WTOP News

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    A Waldorf, Maryland, man has been convicted of murder for shooting his wife in the back of the head while she slept on a December night in 2022, the Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office said.

    A Waldorf, Maryland, man has been convicted of first-degree murder for shooting his wife in the back of the head while she slept on a December night in 2022, the Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

    After a four-day trial, a jury found 36-year-old Travis Edward Paschal Wood guilty of murdering his wife, Shawnda Nicole Wood, 32.

    According to prosecutors, Travis walked into the Charles County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 9, 2022, to request a welfare check at his home. He told an investigator he had been suicidal the night before and asked for his lawyer, but didn’t provide any additional detail, prosecutors said in a news release Monday.

    When officers arrived at the home on Tawny Drive in Waldorf, they found a handgun and Shawnda lying dead in the couple’s bed. Investigators found Travis’ DNA on the gun.

    The sheriff’s office investigation determined the couple went to a hookah lounge and had drinks after putting their children to bed. They returned home around 2 a.m., where Shawnda confronted her husband about peeing on the floor outside the bathroom and told him he needed to be out of the house by the weekend.

    Later that night, while Shawnda slept, Travis shot her once in the back of the head, prosecutors said.

    The next morning, according to officials, Travis rounded up their three daughters and dropped them off at their grandmother’s house. There, he told his mother he had killed his wife. He eventually showed up at the police station.

    Travis was convicted of first-degree murder and the use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. He’s scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 8, 2026, and faces life in prison plus an additional 20 years.

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    Thomas Robertson

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  • Waldorf man faces animal cruelty, possible dogfighting charges – WTOP News

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    A Charles County, Maryland, man is facing animal cruelty and possible dogfighting charges after police carried out an investigation into suspected animal neglect at his Waldorf home.

    A Charles County, Maryland, man is facing animal cruelty and possible dogfighting charges after police carried out an investigation into suspected animal neglect at his Waldorf home.

    Michael Haywood, 47, was arrested and charged with animal cruelty and possible dogfighting.

    On Sept. 2, detectives with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office and Charles County Animal Control officers served a warrant at a home on Twinbrook Drive, where they discovered five Pitbull-like dogs.

    Three of the dogs were found inside feces and urine-soaked crates inside the garage. Two other dogs were found chained up outside the home. According to the sheriff’s office, those dogs didn’t have proper shelter.

    Evidence found at the home included a treadmill baited with dog toys, large doses of antibiotics and heavy chains weighing 15 pounds around the dogs’ necks.

    In a news release, police said the dogs were “extremely thin” and had numerous cuts around their faces.

    Haywood also faces gun-related charges. Four firearms, including a shotgun, were found on the property.

    According to the sheriff’s office, Haywood is prohibited from possessing firearms.

    The investigation into possible dogfighting is ongoing and additional charges are pending.

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Kate Ryan

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  • ‘It really doesn’t get more horrific than that’: DC man sentenced in 1979 murder of Maryland woman – WTOP News

    ‘It really doesn’t get more horrific than that’: DC man sentenced in 1979 murder of Maryland woman – WTOP News

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    A D.C. man was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for the rape and murder of a Maryland woman in a case that wasn’t solved for over four decades.

    A D.C. man was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for the rape and murder of a Maryland woman in a case that wasn’t solved for over four decades.

    Andre Taylor, 63, was found guilty in July of first-degree murder in the death of Vickie Lynn Belk in 1979.

    In a news release, Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West said Belk left behind “a tremendous legacy, and the family carries on a tremendous legacy.”

    “The crime is a horrific loss of a life — the violence was extreme. The amount of fear and terror that preceded the violence doesn’t exist in most cases,” West said, adding that the murder was “so heinous, I can’t think of a lesser sentence that would be appropriate.”

    The Belk family stands beside prosecutors and an investigator in front of the Charles County Circuit Court in La Plata, Maryland, on Aug. 23, 2024. (Courtesy Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office)

    Charles County State’s Attorney Tony Covington said the murder caused “generational trauma” because it took 45 years to solve. Covington also said he admires Belk’s family for having “so much grit, determination and grace” throughout the legal process.

    “[Belk’s] son grew up without a mother. Her parents had to bury their daughter. Her parents had to lay on their deathbed not knowing who killed their daughter. Her grandchildren never got a chance to meet their grandmother,” Covington said in a news release. “When you victimize someone like this and then murder them, it really doesn’t get more horrific than that.”

    Belk’s disappearance and murder

    At the time of her death, Belk, who was 28, was living in Suitland, Maryland, and worked at the Department of Agriculture. But, on Aug. 28, 1979, she was reported missing by her boyfriend after she didn’t come home from work.

    A day later, Belk’s body was found by a teenager along Route 277 in Charles County. She had a gunshot wound to the side of her head and was unclothed from the waist down, prosecutors said.

    Authorities began to investigate her murder immediately, but eventually, as Charles County detectives tried unsuccessfully to find new leads and clues, the case went cold.

    DNA’s breakthrough in the case

    In recent years that Detective Sgt. John Elliott of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office’s Criminal Investigations Division took another look at the case.

    Aided by advancements in forensic science, investigators submitted Belk’s clothing for more advanced DNA testing in 2022.

    The effort gathered enough DNA from the suspect to submit it to the FBI’s national DNA database, CODIS.

    There was a breakthrough in the case in November 2022 when the sheriff’s office was informed the DNA results came back with a match: Andre Taylor.

    Taylor was arrested and charged with Belk’s murder in June 2023. According to prosecutors, he denied murdering Belk when speaking with detectives but he “admitted to actions that amounted to … rape.”

    Authorities said there is no evidence Belk and Taylor knew each other prior to her murder.

    Belk’s family created the Vickie Belk Scholarship Foundation, which awards scholarships in her honor to graduating seniors at Oakland Baptist Church (OBC) in Alexandria, Virginia.

    “Through this scholarship, Vickie’s love for education and the youth of OBC continues,” the organization said, adding that the namesake gift has already aided roughly 100 graduates.

    WTOP’s Jack Moore contributed to this story.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Tadiwos Abedje

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