Forced Entry

Baltimore police reported few leads yesterday in the beating and strangulation of a 67-year-old woman whose body was found Monday afternoon lying across her bed in a Waverly apartment.A concerned neighbor found the body of Moya Carter, who lived alone in the 600 block of Gorsuch Ave. in North Baltimore, about 2 p.m. Monday after she failed to report for work as a telephone operator at Monumental Life Insurance Co. on East Chase Street.Two other people were killed in unrelated incidents Monday -- fatally shot within 30 minutes of each other on opposite sides of the city.

Laurel Police report felonies, arrests and property crimes. Prince George's County police report violent crimes and property crimes. City of Laurel Marshall Avenue, 300 block, April 7. Theft of motor vehicle parts, accessories. Baltimore Avenue, 13600 block, April 7. Forced-entry burglary. Contee Road, 6900 block, April 6. Motor vehicle theft. Main Street, 300 block, April 5. Forced-0entry burglary. Main Street, 300 block, April 5. Attempted burglary.

The body of a Brooklyn Park man was found in his home Monday night by his son and estranged wife, who went there to deliver a birthday card, county police said.David Michael Gordon, 40, of the 100 block of Townsend Ave., was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said he had been bludgeoned to death. It was the 11th homicide in the county this year.Police said Gordon's estranged wife, Holly Gordon, went to the house shortly after 9 p.m. to deliver a birthday card. Neighbors said the couple's 8-year-old son went into the house, found the body, and ran back outside to his mother.

Laurel police report felonies, arrests and property crimes. Prince George's County police report violent crimes and property crimes. City of Laurel Baltimore Avenue, 14900 block, Jan. 19. Theft. Dorset Road, 15700 block, Jan. 18. Theft from motor vehicle. Washington Boulevard, 900 block, Jan. 18. Shoplifting. Kay Court, 800 block, Jan. 17. Theft from building. Bowie Road, 14600 block, Jan. 17. Theft from motor vehicle. Montgomery Street, 300 block, Jan. 16. Theft from motor vehicle.

Police logHickory Ridge: 12200 block of Green Meadow Drive: Cash was reported stolen from a home Monday, but police said there was no sign of forced entry.

POLICE LOG* Harper's Choice: 12200 block of Little Patuxent Parkway: Jewelry was taken from a home Monday night or early Tuesday morning. Police said one bedroom had been ransacked and there were no signs of forced entry.

POLICE LOG* Hickory Ridge: 10600 block of High Beam Court: Vandals broke into a home early last Friday and destroyed furniture with paint. Police said there were no signs of forced entry.

POLICE LOG* North Laurel: 9200 block of Livery Lane: A videocassette recorder and coins were taken from a home Sunday. Police found a window open, but there was no sign of forced entry.

POLICE LOG* Marriottsville: 1000 block of Henryton Road: Jewelry, a Walkman radio, a compact disc player and CDs were stolen from a home while the residents were out of town Saturday. Police said there was no sign of forced entry.

POLICE LOG* Arnold: Someone stole more than $250 in cash and checks from the Arnold Pet Station in the 1200 block of Ritchie over the weekend, county police said. There were no signs of a forced entry.

Laurel police report felonies, arrests and property crimes. Prince George's County police report violent crimes and property crimes. Howard County police report major crimes, break-ins and car thefts. City of Laurel Vista Drive, 14000 block, April 29. Theft from vehicle. Washington Boulevard, 300 block, April 28. Motor vehicle theft. Van Dusen Road, 7700 block, April 28. Strong arm robbery. Laurel Place, 14600 block, April 27. Theft from motor vehicle.

Natural gas service will be restored to customers in Locust Point starting late Wednesday and the company has begun forced entries into homes as part of repair efforts, according to a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. official. The company had estimated Monday that more than 1,000 customers would be without gas service for several days as a result of a bridge contractor accidentally breaking a 12-inch gas main Monday in the 1200 block of E. Fort Ave. About 100 households and businesses in Locust Point had their natural gas service restored Tuesday, but 900 more customers would continue without the heating and cooking fuel as the utility struggles to fix a ruptured main, BGE spokeswoman Linda Foy said.

The house fire that killed a 62-year-old Columbia man last week was set by the victim, Howard County police said Tuesday. Soo Wan Hong of the 7200 block of Riding Hood Circle had to be identified through dental records because his body was so badly burned, police said. "Our investigators took a number of things into account before making a determination that this was a suicide, including some of Mr. Hong's actions in the days leading up to the fire, as well as some information they gathered since the incident occurred, " police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said.

Four men forced their way into a party in North Baltimore and robbed more than a dozen people late Thursday, city police said. The robbery happened in the 400 block of E. Lake Ave., about three blocks west of York Road, shortly before midnight, police said. The home had been rented to four Towson University students since September, according to the home's owner, John Komsa III. Reached by phone yesterday morning, Komsa said he had not been told about the home invasion at his property.

An autopsy performed on a woman found Tuesday morning in her East Baltimore rowhouse indicated that she was strangled, and police are investigating her death as a homicide. About 11 a.m., Eastern District police responding to a 911 call entered the house in the 1700 block of N. Port St. and found Josephine House, 63, unconscious, said Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman. Moses said a preliminary investigation showed no signs of foul play. Moses said an autopsy yesterday indicated the woman's death was caused by strangulation, and it was ruled a homicide.

A 32-year-old tugboat operator from Maine was arrested early yesterday and charged with breaking into Mayor Martin O'Malley's gubernatorial campaign headquarters in Baltimore's Canton section, police said. The man's motive was unpolitical, police said. "The guy was apparently intoxicated and looking for a bathroom," said Matt Jablow, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department. "That's all there is to it. There's nothing sinister, as far as we can tell. He apparently had no idea what office he was in."

POLICE LOG*North Laurel: 10000 block of U.S. 1: Coins and food were stolen from a house Wednesday morning, but police said there was no sign of forced entry.

An Annapolis man and his wife were found dead yesterday after he apparently shot her and then turned the gun on himself, police said. Anne Arundel County police said the couple was found in an upstairs bedroom of a home in the 1700 block of Wood Tree Circle. Police met a friend of the victim there yesterday morning after she called them to say she was concerned because she had not seen her friend at work for the past two days. Police went into the home and found the 59-year-old man and 63-year-old woman dead.

NEW ORLEANS -- Mayor Ray Nagin bowed yesterday to the potential threat of a new hurricane and the insistence of President Bush and other federal officials in calling off the reopening of large sections of the city. Tropical Storm Rita represented a "new event" that forced a change in the plans he outlined late last week, the mayor said. "If we are off, I'd rather err on the side of conservatism so that we make sure that we have everybody out." Bush and Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, in charge of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's operation in New Orleans, had expressed strong reservations about Nagin's plan, which by Monday would have reopened neighborhoods that once accommodated about 180,000 people, or just over a third of the city's population.