September 30, 2008
Hearing delayed for man charged in kids' drowning
A competency hearing for a Rockville man accused of drowning his three children in a Baltimore hotel has been postponed. Prosecutors and defense attorneys met with Baltimore Circuit Judge Gale Rasin in her chambers for nearly an hour yesterday morning before the hearing was to take place. No new hearing date was announced. Attorneys are under a gag order. Mark Castillo was to be evaluated at a state forensic psychiatric hospital to determine whether he's competent to stand trial and competent to represent himself. Last month, Castillo told a judge that he wanted to fire his public defenders and plead guilty, and this month he told a judge he had not reconsidered this strategy. Police say Castillo confessed to drowning his three children - ages 6, 4 and 2 - in the bathtub of a downtown Baltimore hotel room in March.
Associated Press
Imprisoned sex offender charged in other incident
A 74-year-old man in prison for trying to kidnap a 6-year-old Essex girl in 2007 has been charged in Harford County with abusing an 8-year-old in 2003 and 2004. The man, Irvine Gary Oelke, is serving a seven-year sentence in a Maryland state prison after his Baltimore County conviction this year. In 2004, Oelke was convicted of sexual child abuse in Cecil County. He served 18 months on that charge and is a registered sex offender. Harford officials say there may be other victims who have not come forward.
David Kohn
Suspect in home invasion and stabbings arrested
A Columbia man, accused of a home invasion in which two people were stabbed, was arrested yesterday, Howard County police said. Gregory Imes, 26, is charged with two counts each of attempted murder, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment, and one count of first-degree burglary. Police said Imes broke into the residence of his former girlfriend's mother, Maria Elana Cokely, and attacked her and her fiance, Reginald Crudup, in a home in the 10300 block of Twin Rivers Road in Columbia about 6:15 a.m. Saturday. The two, both 51, were stabbed several times before Imes fled, police said. A knife was found at the scene, police said. Cokely and Crudup listed in critical condition Saturday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. The hospital declined to release updated information on their conditions yesterday at request of relatives. Imes was arrested without incident yesterday in Laurel, police said.
John-John Williams IV
Police identify victims of two separate homicides
Police have identified two recent homicide victims. Kevin Rouzer, who turned 29 Sunday, was found shot about 10:30 p.m. that night in a minivan parked in the 1700 block of N. Broadway in the Broadway East community. Rouzer had been shot at least once in the head and died a short time later at a hospital, police said. Court records show Rouzer, also known as Kevin McDowell, had a long criminal record. He was indicted last month on charges of drug distribution. He pleaded guilty to drug possession charges in February 2007, receiving a 10-year sentence with all but about six months suspended and three years probation. In 2004, he also faced first-degree murder charges that were later dropped. Police also identified a teenager found shot in a Northwest Baltimore alley early Friday. About 1:17 a.m., an officer was flagged down by a woman who said she had seen a person in the alley behind the 5300 block of Cordelia Ave., police said. The officer found 17-year-old Jarell Laws unresponsive, with an apparent gunshot wound to the head, according to police.
Justin Fenton
Woman, hit by falling tree outside condominium, dies
A woman was killed yesterday afternoon when she was struck by a falling tree while emptying trash outside a Pikesville condominium, said a spokeswoman for the county Fire Department. The woman's name was withheld by police pending notification of her family, said Elise Armacost, the spokeswoman. Armacost said that about 4:30 p.m., the woman was emptying trash behind the condo in the first block of Greenwich Place when a large dead oak tree fell, trapping the woman. Armacost said someone called 911 and that firefighters from the Pikesville station arrived a few minutes later and removed the woman from beneath the tree. An ambulance crew pronounced her dead at the scene. Armacost said that police were investigating the woman's death.
Jennifer McMenamin
Worker seriously injured in forklift accident
