Columbia Woman

The State Fire Marshal's office has released the identity of a Columbia woman who died in a house fire Tuesday.Officials identified the victim of the Oakland Mills village blaze as Hannah Lavi, 52. The fire destroyed her townhouse in the 9400 block of Kilimanjaro Road. A state medical examiner's autopsy determined that she died of burns and smoke inhalation.Lavi lived alone. Officials had delayed releasing her name until they notified her family in Illinois and Israel. She was buried Sunday in Israel.

Howard County police charged a Columbia woman with attempted murder yesterday in the stabbing of her former boyfriend during an argument.Police said a woman and a man were arguing at Carters Lane and Guilford Place at 6 p.m. Monday, when the man began throwing large rocks at her car."They were having an argument over a set of keys," said Sgt. Morris Carroll, a police spokesman. "She then returned to her car and pulled out a knife."Adrianne Abron, 32, of 8800 block of Flowerstock Row is accused of stabbing Richard Matthews, 39, of Columbia once in the abdomen, police said.

A Columbia woman was attacked late Monday night by a man who broke into her apartment and tried to rape her, Howard County police said yesterday.Sgt. Glenn Hansen, a police spokesman, said the woman was assaulted as she walked into her bedroom about 11: 50 p.m. in her apartment in the Poplar Glen complex in West Columbia's Town Center village.The man apparently climbed into the woman's first-floor apartment through the bedroom window, Hansen said.Police said the man threw the woman to the floor, then told her to go into another room before running out of the apartment.

An armed man abducted a Columbia woman outside her home, made her drive to Lake Elkhorn, sexually assaulted her and stabbed her five times before running away Friday night, Howard County police said.The 20-year-old victim was in serious but stable condition at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore yesterday, police said.Police did not have a complete description of the suspect yesterday. Investigators were waiting to interview the woman to get more details, said Cpl. Kevin Costello, a spokesman for the Howard County Police Department.

A 35-year-old Columbia woman told Howard County police that she was sexually assaulted Monday night in the 5800 block of Stevens Forest Road.About 9: 30 p.m., the victim said she heard a male voice call to her from the woods. She told police officers that two men came out and walked her into the wooded area where they sexually assaulted her, according to police reports.She described one suspect as about 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds with black, short straight hair, a mustache pTC and sideburns.

Columbia woman charged with drug violationsHoward County drug detectives charged a Columbia woman with drug violations Friday night after searching her home, Howard County police said.About 8:45 p.m. Friday, detectives with a search warrant found hand-rolled marijuana cigarettes, a plastic bag containing a quarter-ounce of marijuana, a small, brown wooden novelty pipe containing marijuana residue and one pack of rolling papers in a home, police said.Beth Ann Jackson, 47, of the 9500 block of Battler Court in Columbia's Oakland Mills village was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, police said.

A Columbia woman was robbed of $60 Saturday as she withdrew money from an automated teller machine in Laurel, police said.Janine Rekdahl, 29, was taking cash from the ATM at the Citizen's National Bank branch in the 3300 block of Laurel-Fort Meade Road shortly before 4 p.m. when a man behind her asked, "Can I have your money, please?" police said.When Rekdahl turned around, she saw a man pointing a small handgun. Again, he said, "Please," and she handed him the money.The man walked away with another man who was waiting around the corner, police said.

A robber pushed an elderly woman to the ground outside a senior citizens center in Columbia's Harper's Choice village Wednesday and took her purse, Howard County police said.The Columbia woman was not seriously injured and did not require medical attention, police said.About 8 a.m. Wednesday, the woman was walking near the Florence Bain Senior Center in the 5700 block of Harper's Farm Road when a man approached and knocked her down, police said.Police said the robber snatched her purse -- which contained cash, credit cards and other property -- and ran.The robber was described as a stocky black male in his midteens, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and wearing a blue jacket and black knit hat, police said.

A masked man grabbed a Columbia woman as she walked to her apartment building and took her cash early Friday, Howard County police said.The victim was not injured in the robbery in the 12200 block of Green Meadow Drive in Columbia's Harper's Choice village. The suspect did not show a weapon, police said.According to police reports, the woman had just parked her car about 12:30 a.m. Friday when the suspect jumped from bushes and demanded her money.After the woman screamed, the suspect grabbed at her purse.

Columbia woman is robbed by teenA 37-year-old Columbia woman was robbed in Annapolis Tuesday night by a teen-ager who grabbed her purse as she left an Eastport restaurant.Lynn Renee Gardner told police she was leaving the Clipper Restaurant and walking to her car in the 600 block Severn Ave. when the youth grabbed her arm, pulled her away from her car, took her purse and ran.2 Annapolis women held on drug chargesTwo Annapolis women were arrested on drug charges after police searched their apartment in the 200 block of Hilltop Lane.

Woman reports rape try at Convention Center Police disclosed Thursday that a 24-year-old woman was the victim of an attempted rape Saturday morning in front of the Baltimore Convention Center. According to a copy of the police report, the woman was walking in the 300 block of Sharp St. near Pratt Street about 6:30 a.m. when she was approached by a man who grabbed her from behind and began choking her, preventing her from screaming. She said the man forcibly pulled her underwear off then called for someone to pick them up, according to police.

A Columbia woman was sentenced to six months in the Howard County Detention Center yesterday after a drunken driving accident resulted in the death of her husband. Howard County Circuit Judge Lenore R. Gelfman also placed Maricela Janeth Knight, of the 6300 block of Gray Sea Way, on six months of home detention and then five years of supervised probation after her release. She also will be required to complete 500 hours of community service, possibly with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and local schools, according to Assistant State's Attorney Stacy Mayer.

A Howard County Circuit Court jury convicted a Prince George's man last night in the murder of a Columbia woman who was pregnant with his child. After deliberating for 4 1/2 hours, the jury found Tjane C. Marshall, 28, of Suitland guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Shameka Fludd, 23, who was found shot four times in the face, lying in bed at her Stevens Forest apartment in Columbia's Oakland Mills village in May last year. Fludd's friends and family sobbed and cheered as they left the Ellicott City courtroom after the verdict.

Opening statements are scheduled to begin this morning in Howard County Circuit Court in the first-degree murder trial of a Prince George's County man accused of murdering a pregnant Columbia woman. Yesterday, lawyers selected jurors - eight men and four women - to hear the case against Tjane Charmeise Marshall that is expected to last one to two weeks. Lawyers chose three alternate jurors, all women. Marshall 28, of the 3900 block of Coach Lane in Suitland, is accused of killing 23-year-old Shameka Fludd, who was found shot in the head in her Stevens Forest apartment in Columbia's Oakland Mills Village in May last year.

Two men are being held without bail in the carjacking of a sport utility vehicle at Harper's Choice Shopping Center on Monday night. Walter A. Torres, 22, of the 5200 block of Brookway in Columbia and Henry A. Maroquin, 19, of the 900 block of Park Ave. in Laurel were charged with 16 crimes, including armed carjacking, armed robbery, first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and false imprisonment. A preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 21. Two men approached the victims, a 47-year-old Columbia woman and her 10-year-old daughter, about 9:30 p.m. after they shopped at the Safeway supermarket on the 5400 block of Harper's Farm Road, said Sherry Llewellyn, Howard County police spokeswoman.

A Columbia woman who was driving her 4-year-old son to day care on her way to work was pinned under her car and killed yesterday when a teen-ager in a minivan with a frosted-up windshield rammed into her vehicle, police said. Delores Veney-Abusalih, 39, of the 9600 block of Basket Ring Road, was pronounced dead at the scene yesterday morning. Her son, who was sitting in a front safety seat at the time, was not injured, police said. The minivan was driven by a 17-year-old Columbia girl who was not injured and whose name was not disclosed because she is a minor, police said.

Howard County police are investigating a possible link between the robbery of a Jessup shop owner and that of a Columbia woman who was attacked in the driveway of her home last month. In both holdups, a gunman approached the victims after they had made large withdrawals from the same Columbia bank, police said yesterday. In the holdup Monday, James Gilles II, owner of Jimmy G's Check Cashing and restaurant, was robbed of about $120,000 when he pulled up to the back of his store in a shopping center at U.S. 1 and Route 175. The gunman fired several shots at him, and Gilles' son chased the man across the busy intersection, returning fire with a 9 mm handgun, police said.

Howard County police are looking for a man who they said followed a 63-year-old woman from her bank to her home in Riverside Estates and robbed her at gunpoint of money and thousands of dollars in gold jewelry. On Feb. 22, the woman took the jewelry and money out of her safety deposit box at First Union Bank in the 8800 block of Centre Park Drive in Columbia. When she arrived at her home in the 6900 block of Newberry Drive about 11: 15 a.m., a man attacked her and demanded the bag she was carrying with the jewelry and money inside, police said.

The State Fire Marshal's office has released the identity of a Columbia woman who died in a house fire Tuesday.Officials identified the victim of the Oakland Mills village blaze as Hannah Lavi, 52. The fire destroyed her townhouse in the 9400 block of Kilimanjaro Road. A state medical examiner's autopsy determined that she died of burns and smoke inhalation.Lavi lived alone. Officials had delayed releasing her name until they notified her family in Illinois and Israel. She was buried Sunday in Israel.

Howard County police charged a Columbia woman with attempted murder yesterday in the stabbing of her former boyfriend during an argument.Police said a woman and a man were arguing at Carters Lane and Guilford Place at 6 p.m. Monday, when the man began throwing large rocks at her car."They were having an argument over a set of keys," said Sgt. Morris Carroll, a police spokesman. "She then returned to her car and pulled out a knife."Adrianne Abron, 32, of 8800 block of Flowerstock Row is accused of stabbing Richard Matthews, 39, of Columbia once in the abdomen, police said.