Poehlman

John A. Miller's statements to police about how 17-year-old Shen Poehlman died, and where he hid her clothing and her purse after her death, can be presented to jurors when he is tried in her killing, a judge ruled yesterday.Miller, 27, is accused of killing Poehlman, an Eldersburg, Carroll County, tennis star who had won an academic scholarship to Florida State University. Her body was found in her car at the Bentley Park Apartments in Reisterstown on July 29, 1998 -- the day after she had agreed to baby-sit for a stranger who approached her at the apartment complex's pool.

Lawyers for John Albert Miller IV, the New York man charged last summer with strangling 17-year-old Shen Dullea Poehlman of Eldersburg, told a judge yesterday that they will have Miller's trial moved to another county.The legal move, aimed at trying the case where there has been less pretrial publicity about the crime, will delay Miller's trial -- scheduled in Baltimore County for March 15 -- for several months. The new site has not been decided.Baltimore County prosecutors Robin Coffin and Mickey Norman are seeking the death penalty for Miller, who is charged with first-degree murder, attempted rape, first-degree sex offense, robbery and false imprisonment in the July death.

Janice Dullea Poehlman is offering the community a gentle thank you and a chance to remember her daughter at a memorial massage-a-thon Sunday.She and eight other massage therapists will give 10-minute massages at Sykesville Fire Hall, using professional massage chairs and tables. Volunteers trained to conduct cholesterol and blood pressure screenings and spinal assessments will be available.Poehlman has organized the day in memory of Shen Dullea Poehlman, her 17-year-old daughter who was strangled a year ago after she went to a baby-sitting job. The killing led to an outpouring of sympathy from neighbors and friends in South Carroll.

A 17-year-old Eldersburg honors student, who was a tennis champion and community service leader, was found strangled in her car early yesterday at a Reisterstown apartment complex -- less than 24 hours after she agreed to baby-sit for a stranger.Arrested and charged yesterday with the murder of Shen Dullea Poehlman was 26-year-old John Albert Miller IV, an unemployed store clerk.He moved to Reisterstown three months ago from Rochester, N.Y., where he had been convicted of at least three crimes including assault, authorities said.

Charles and Janice Poehlman named their daughter after an Egyptian symbol for immortality. Yesterday they refused to draw attention to the events of Shen Dullea Poehlman's slaying, and instead dwelled on a life filled with promise."

Little about Shen Poehlman's tennis game was fancy. She was a baseline player who put the ball in play and waited for opponents to make mistakes. When they did, she pounced.That combination of patience and persistence won her three straight county titles at Liberty High School in Carroll County.It would also help her succeed in almost everything she did. She lettered in volleyball, led the school in community service and won the Booster Club's coveted Lionbackers scholarship. She was headed to Florida State University in two weeks to study marine biology.

For Liberty's Shen Poehlman and the North Carroll doubles team of Brooke Foster and Heather Easter, the wait was worth it.After rain postponed the Carroll County tournament for nearly a week, Poehlman won her third consecutive singles championship and the Foster-Easter duo captured its second straight doubles title yesterday at North Carroll.Poehlman, believed to be the first winner of three straight girls singles titles, paid back North Carroll's Charis Fulton for a loss last week with a 7-5, 6-0 championship victory.

Friends and family of Shen Dullea Poehlman remembered the slain Eldersburg teen-ager yesterday not for the circumstances of her death but for the way she lived -- her free spirit, her ability to make everyone around her smile, her never-ending kindness."

Eight years after the Americans With Disabilities Act became the law of the land, activists who once fought for wheelchair ramps and beeping crosswalk signals have moved their battle to cyberspace. And David Poehlman is on the front lines.Born blind, Poehlman is a computer consultant in Wheaton. In addition to work, he uses the World Wide Web to chat with friends, check bus and train schedules, shop for everything from CDs to garden hoses and scan the daily papers."After I got on the Net," he says, "my life changed."

Liberty senior Shen Poehlman loves to talk about dolphins.Poehlman has been fascinated by them since early childhood and plans on attending Florida State University next year with hopes of becoming a marine biologist.Poehlman also loves to discuss her fascinating experience last summer at a dolphin research center in the Florida Keys. During that time, Poehlman learned even more about dolphins, such as how to swim with and train them.After a while, Poehlman will bring up another subject: tennis.

It has been a decade since Chuck Poehlman unzipped the body bag to see the thick purple bruise around his daughter's neck and the shoe imprint left on her chest by the man who stood on top of her as he strangled the life out of her with a belt. Family members attended countless court hearings as John A. Miller IV was tried, convicted of killing 17-year-old Shen Poehlman and sentenced to death. There have been more court dates since that sentence was overturned and Miller agreed to plead guilty if prosecutors dropped their pursuit of a second death sentence, only to have him spend the past 15 months trying to undo that agreement.

For years, Chuck Poehlman couldn't imagine anything less than an execution for the man who sexually assaulted and strangled his 17-year-old daughter after hiring her to baby-sit his nephew. Even after the convicted killer's death sentence was overturned, Poehlman was adamant that prosecutors ought to pursue the death penalty the second time around. But the Carroll County man has relented, finally signing off this year on a plea agreement designed to end the years of roller coaster-like appeals that so many victims' families experience in capital cases while also ensuring that a murderer will spend most, and perhaps all, of his life behind bars.

Irvin Scott Poehlman, a retired civil engineer and former Towson resident, died of complications from dementia and a fall May 31 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 81. Mr. Poehlman was born in Baltimore and raised in Stoneleigh and Towson. He was a 1941 graduate of Towson High School and enlisted in the Army Air Forces in 1943. Trained as a B-24 pilot, Mr. Poehlman remained stateside and attained the rank of lieutenant. He worked for the Baltimore County Department of Public Works from 1945 to 1955, while earning a degree in civil engineering at the old McCoy College of the Johns Hopkins University.

On June 19, 2005 MARY A. POEHLMAN; beloved wife of George I. Poehlman, Jr.; loving mother of Catherine M. James and husband Scott, John G. Poehlman and wife Colleen and the late George I. Poehlman, III; devoted grandmother of Ryan, Brandon and Kacey, Matthew, Farace and Erica James; dear sister of Max Trujillo. Friends may call at the family owned Evans Chapel of Memories - Parkville (8800 Harford Rd.) from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. on Wednesday. A Funeral Service will be held on Thursday at 11 A.M. in the funeral home chapel.

On May 22, 2005 SARA CHRISTINE; daughter of the late Fredrick E. and Sara E. (nee Roush) Poehlman; wife of Albert E. Brodhurst; sister of James D. Poehlman. Services and Interment are private. Donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, 8219 Town Center Dr., Baltimore, MD 21236. Arrangements by MYERS-DURBORAW FUNERAL HOME, Westminster.

On January 21, 2005, GEORGE IRVIN POEHLMAN III, finally found his peace. He is beloved son of George I. Poehlman, Jr. and Mary A. Poehlman; loving brother of Jon G. Poehlman and his wife Colleen, Catherine Mary James and her husband Scott; dear uncle of Matthew J. Farace and Erica C. James. Friends may call at the EVANS CHAPEL OF MEMORIES - PARKVILLE from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M., Tuesday. A funeral service will be held in the funeral home's chapel on Wednesday at 11 A.M. In lieu of flowers, donations in his name to Addictions Connections Resources, P.O. Box 327, Churchville, MD 21028.

Once again, the murderer was in the spotlight. The prosecutors and victims' advocates had warned Chuck Poehlman that this would happen, that some days it would seem as if his teen-age daughter had been forgotten, that people cared only about her killer. He knew that other victims' families, faced with a court ruling that overturned a death sentence, had asked prosecutors to avoid another capital trial and instead agree to a plea. And after he learned Thursday that the Maryland Court of Appeals had set aside the death sentence for the killer of 17-year-old Shen Poehlman, he knew people might wonder whether he would do the same.

On April 8, 2003, SARA M. POEHLMAN (nee Tumminello), beloved wife of the late Luther C. Poehlman. Dear sister of Joseph V. and Vincent F. Tumminello and the late Dr. Salvatore A. Tumminello MD, Concetta M. Barry and John H. Tumminello. Also survived by several nieces and nephews. The family will receive friends at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Road (beltway exit 26-A), on Monday from 9 to 10 A.M. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at the Immaculate Conception Church on Monday at 10:30 A.M. Interment Loudon Park Cemetery.

Chuck Poehlman waited a year and a half for this moment. From the instant he'd learned of his daughter's killing, when the Baltimore County police knocked on his door and he reeled to the floor, feeling like he'd been shot with a cannonball. Through the night at the Sykesville funeral home, when he ignored his family's pleas and unzipped the body bag, seeing but not seeing the autopsy scars as he searched for a pulse. During those days in the courtroom, when he endured repulsive testimony, and devised plans to lunge toward the trial table and gouge the defendant's eyes.

CUMBERLAND -- John A. Miller IV -- an unemployed store clerk who lured a Carroll County girl to his apartment with the false promise of a baby-sitting job, only to strangle her -- was sentenced to death yesterday. Rejecting Miller's plea for mercy and looking past his apology to the 17-year-old victim's family, a jury deliberated for four hours and 20 minutes before finding that Miller should die for his crimes. As the decision was announced, Miller slumped back in his chair, seemingly in despair.