Body Was Found

A Baltimore County jury convicted David L. Holland yesterday of murdering his ex-wife, after hearing evidence that Francesca Holland's car was found parked outside his house in February with his fingerprints, hat and glove, and her strangled body in the trunk.A jury deliberated for three hours before convicting Holland of first-degree murder and of robbery for stealing his ex-wife's videocassette recorder, portable stereo, vacuum cleaner and Honda Civic.Prosecutor Robin Coffin said the case involved "a tremendous amount of evidence because it was circumstantial.

The body of a 59-year-old woman who had been bound and gagged was found in her East Baltimore apartment yesterday afternoon, one of two apparent slayings city police were investigating yesterday.The woman's body was found about 1: 30 p.m. in the Johnston Square Apartments, a housing complex for the elderly in the 500 block of E. Preston St. Her identity was not released pending notification of relatives.Agent Ragina L. Cooper, a city police spokeswoman, said a maintenance man discovered the dead woman after her friends became worried when they did not see her all morning.

A Baltimore firefighter is being accused by colleagues of balking and blocking a stairway of a burning rowhouse during a search for a missing child who later was found dead.There is no evidence that the delay, about 90 seconds, contributed to the death on Thanksgiving of 7-year-old Randi E. McDonald, whose body was found in a rear bedroom on the second floor of the three-story rowhouse in the Upton neighborhood.But at the time the firefighter, identified as James Williams, 46, was ordered up the stairs, rescuers at the scene did not know whether the child was alive.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- Police Chief Richard Barreto issued an unusual apology to the media -- and the world -- yesterday, after acknowledging that his officers incorrectly told reporters that no body had been found inside the Miami Beach houseboat where Andrew Phillip Cunanan killed himself.Barreto blamed the misinformation on a series of misunderstandings by his officers. The error drew criticism from a slew of Miami Beach politicians. "For us to put out information that is wrong is hurtful to the public and is wrong," said City Manager Jose Garcia-Pedrosa.

Police identified Dorothy Williams, 64, yesterday as the woman who was found bludgeoned to death in her West Baltimore apartment Saturday night.Williams' body was found about 7 p.m. Saturday in her apartment in the Poe Homes public housing complex in the 900 block of W. Lexington St. after a friend, concerned that she had not seen or heard from her in a week, found her backdoor open, detected an odor and called 911, police said.The victim's dwelling had been ransacked.Police said Williams, whose body was found in the living room, had been dead about a week.

A man was arrested yesterday and charged with first-degree murder in the death of a 17-year-old boy whose body was found Friday in a field in White Marsh, Baltimore County police said.Keith Louis Sellers, 24, had been living with the victim at a motel in Aberdeen, police said.A hiker found the body of Michael Shane Keller of Lenoir, N.C., in a field off the 12100 block of Pulaski Highway, police said.Pub Date: 3/31/97

Katrena Richards stood at the front of the funeral home chapel yesterday, read the poem she had composed for her oldest brother and tried to keep her composure. The 15-year-old made it through the first two lines, then, as she looked over the front row with her parents and four surviving siblings, she had to cry."He never hurt anyone. He didn't deserve to die," Katrena said of Obdul Richards, 16, who police believe was killed in January by Shawn E. Brown, 27, a Baltimore native. "He was our oldest brother, and we never got to say goodbye."

Baltimore County police are searching through reports of women who have disappeared since 1991, hoping to identify the body of a young woman found Tuesday along a stretch of Falls Road in rural Whitehouse.Investigators have been unable to determine the cause or manner of the woman's death, said Lt. Craig Bowers.But they do know that she has been dead about five years and is not among the thousands of people reported missing from the county during that period."We don't know what happened yet," he said.

The body of unidentified teen-aged girl who apparently was slain was found yesterday morning in a wooded area behind a row of Edgewood townhouses.A woman looking for her dog found the girl's body about 8:45 a.m. near the the 1400 block of Charlestown Drive in Harford Square, according to Sgt. Edward Hopkins, a spokesman for the county sheriff's office.Police would not comment on the condition of the body of what they said was a girl of 15 or 16, but a neighborhood resident who would not give his name said she appeared to be partially nude.

A Baltimore man being investigated as a possible serial killer went to court yesterday and announced he wanted "the truth found" about a slaying he was charged with last month.John Dean Powell of the 300 block of Herring Court told a District Court judge that he would represent himself in the murder case and in a separate assault case, which went to trial yesterday.Mr. Powell, 36, is charged in the death of 27-year-old Cecelia R. Mosca, whose body was found in a recessed stairwell of Lombard Middle School on March 15. She had been strangled and beaten, and trash was piled on her body.