First Degree Murder

A Baltimore County jury concluded Monday that Frederick A. Christian killed his girlfriend — the mother of their 2-year-old child — in November 2009 and that he used a gun to do so, even though the weapon was never found and, prosecutors conceded, much of the evidence against him was circumstantial. Testimony in Christian's trial, which lasted more than a week, showed that the body of 23-year-old Jerryell Myesha Foster was dumped near a highway in Virginia, where it was found several months after she disappeared from the apartment in Cockeysville she had shared with the defendant and their daughter.

The 21-year-old college student allegedly told detectives that he hadn't just killed the man who'd lived with his family for months, but had eaten his heart and portions of his brain. The victim's severed head and hands were found in the men's Harford County home; more remains were left in a trash container outside a church. Authorities outlined the macabre circumstances Thursday in charges against Alexander Kinyua, an electrical engineering major at Morgan State University and member of his school's ROTC program, of first-degree murder in the death of 37-year-old Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, a Ghanaian national and a former master's degree student.

Two 18-year-old men have been arrested in the fatal shooting of another man in Pasadena early Saturday morning, Anne Arundel County police said Sunday. Ronald Lee McLeod, of Columbia, and Daniel Alex Savage, of Glen Burnie, have been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of Matthew Morrow, 21, who died at an area hospital after being found with gunshot wounds in the 7000 block of Outing Avenue about 1:30 a.m. Another man — whom The Sun confirmed to be mixed martial arts fighter Darren Costa, 20 — was also found shot and was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Facing first-degree murder and other charges stemming from a fatal shooting Dec. 12, Clarence Eugene Johnson III of Annapolis turned himself in Wednesday to the law enforcement officials, Annapolis police said. Police responded to a report of a shooting at a home in the 1400 block of Tyler Avenue around 9:20 p.m. Joseph Johnson III , 33, of Brooklyn - no relation to Clarence Johnson - had been shot and killed. Jana Jackson, 31, was seriously wounded. Police had issued a warrant for Clarence Johnson in connection to the case, and his attorney said Tuesday that his client maintained his innocence.

A 26-year-old man has been charged in the after hours club shooting last month that left one man dead and others injured, according to Baltimore police. Ricky Horton is charged in the death of Sean Rhodes, 25, of Franklin Square, who was one of three people shot early Jan. 13 at the Ras-a-Ter International Restaurant and Club at 2103 W. North Ave., police said. Horton, of the 4900 block of Edgemere Avenue in Baltimore, faces first degree murder and assault charges. The shooting occurred about 5:30 a.m. as people left the club, marking the second within 14 months, police said.

A 27-year-old Glen Burnie woman charged with gun possession late last month in a death investigation in which her father was charged with first-degree murder has now been charged with murder as well, according to Anne Arundel County Police. Police said the new charge was filed after investigators "gathered probable cause" to implicate the woman in the killing, but they did not disclose what that cause was. Erica Tywanda Banks, 27, of the 7300 block of Green Acres Drive, was spotted by police in the early morning hours of Jan. 27 sitting in a vehicle near the intersection of Tanyard Cove Road and Marley Neck Boulevard in Glen Burnie, along with 24-year-old Tremain Celos Calhoun, of Pasadena, police said.

Baltimore County police charged a 20-year-old Dundalk man Tuesday with first-degree murder in his roommate's death. Edwin Alexander Iglesias-Reyes is accused of stabbing Victor DeJesus Portillo-Portillo, 26, of the 400 block of Scarsdale Road multiple times on Monday. Police said he then fled the home, leaving a trail of blood from the basement into a rear alley where a knife was found. Officers found blood around the surrounding neighborhood. The roommates had gotten into an fight but police said it's unclear what the argument was about.

A Dundalk woman who admitted to arranging her husband's murder two years ago was sentenced Monday to 60 years in prison. Prosecutors say Jaclyn Martin gave her brother money to buy the gun with which he shot Lee Martin outside his Dundalk bar early on May 22, 2010. Jaclyn Martin and her brother, Robert Garner, both pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the scheme. Garner had previously been sentenced to 60 years in prison. Prosecutors say Jaclyn Martin called her husband at the Hops Inn on Railway Avenue just before he stepped out of the bar. They say Garner, with the help of two others, ambushed and shot Lee Martin as he was walking to his house next to the bar. Brandon Roth, who drove the getaway car, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and was sentenced to 20 years with all but seven suspended.

A second suspect was arrested Wednesday night on charges that he killed a Brooklyn Park man who was in his vehicle near his home July 1, said Anne Arundel County police. Rodney Barnwell, 22, was apprehended about 10 p.m. in a home on Ludlow Street in Philadelphia, where he has ties, according to police. A July 28 warrant for Barnwell and another man charged them with first-degree murder, armed robbery and related counts in the death of Adam Ray Bucklew, 21, of the 400 block of Audrey Ave. Bucklew was found apparently shot to death in his vehicle in front of his home.

Hillendale pizza driver Anthony Lee Davenport was convicted of first-degree murder by a Baltimore County Circuit Court jury yesterday in the stabbing of his wife, Katanya Denise Davenport, 83 times last summer.Davenport, 27, who is serving a 30-year term for attacking his wife six months earlier, while she was pregnant, could be given life without the possibility of parole. Sentencing by Judge Barbara Kerr Howe has been set tentatively for May 8.Taking the stand yesterday, Davenport said he had been drinking and using drugs the night before the July 29 stabbing and was propelled by anger after his wife told him their marriage was over.