A 63-year-old woman found dead in her Overlea home Sunday had been stabbed several times, police said yesterday -- the third woman slain in Baltimore County in little more than a week.
While police have arrested a suspect in the earliest case -- the strangulation of a Middle River woman -- the fatal stabbings of Evelyn Jane Cunningham Sunday in Overlea and of Olga Gregorian Sexton, 38, in her Garrison home a week ago remained unsolved last night.
A son and a neighbor found Ms. Cunningham lying dead in a bathroom in her home in the 400 block of Old Home Road after she did not show up at Home Depot in Towson, where she had worked for the past three years as a cashier supervisor.
Ms. Cunningham, who lived alone, was last known to be alive about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, police said. About 6 a.m. Sunday, her brother stopped by to pick her up for work, but left when no one answered the door. Ms. Cunningham's maroon 1987 Eddie Bauer-model Ford Bronco was missing.
"She's not one to not show up for work," said Shawn Sites, a Home Depot manager. "Her co-workers called family when she never arrived. She was a dear, sweet lady and loved by everyone here. She was always upbeat, always smiling and hard to keep up with. She will be missed."
The Bronco, which her son had reported missing, was found by a patrol officer that afternoon, parked at Willow and Willowdale avenues about four blocks from Ms. Cunningham's home. The vehicle was taken to police headquarters to be examined for clues.
Police said there was no sign of forced entry at Ms. Cunningham's home -- or at the home of the other stabbing victim, on Hamlet Drive home in Garrison. Mrs. Sexton's husband reported coming home from work early Dec. 5 and finding her lying dead behind the front door.
Although Mrs. Sexton's wallet was found in Parkville, about two miles from Ms. Cunningham's home, police said they had no reason to believe the two slayings are connected.
Police said they were searching for a man to question in the Garrison killing. The man had been seen at the Russian Spa, at York and Timonium roads, where Mrs. Sexton worked, police said. He was described as 28 to 33 years old, 5 feet 9 to 6 feet tall, 220 to 240 pounds, with a medium to stocky build, with blond hair but no facial hair.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 887-2198.
The third homicide victim was Cynthia Sue Hoshal, 36, a paralegal found strangled in her car Dec. 5 several blocks from her home on Vailthorn Road in Middle River. She had been reported missing three days earlier by her husband.
Ervin Timothy Brosig Jr., of the 800 block of Wilson Point Road, a mechanic for a Baltimore packaging company, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Police said Mrs. Hoshal -- described by friends and family as a "kind and helpful person" -- may have offered a ride to the person who strangled her after meeting him in a bar Dec. 1.
