Man, 19, is held on murder charge in friend's death

A 19-year-old Odenton man has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of Billy Joe Ace, an 18-year-old Baltimore County man shot March 9 while he and two friends were drinking and playing with a loaded gun, police said.

Jason Keith Hamel, who was renting a room in a townhouse in the 500 block of Realm Court where the shooting occurred, was arrested Aug. 7 and is being held at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center in lieu of $250,000 bail, police said.

Police said Hamel, Ace, of Edgemere, and a 17-year-old boy from Dundalk were at the townhouse and had been drinking since early afternoon March 8 when Ace was shot once in the forehead early the next day. Hamel said he drove the body into the woods about a mile away and left it, police said.

Police said they found Ace's body just after 11 p.m. that day when the 17-year-old called Baltimore County police and reported the shooting. Police also said they found a 12-gauge shotgun believed to be the weapon in the house.

Pub Date: 8/16/98