Raras

Howard County authorities appear to be gathering more evidence in the killing of an Elkridge woman who was the victim of a hit-man hired by her mother-in-law. Two convictions have been won in the homicide, but authorities appear to be focusing on another suspect, said sources familiar with the case. It is unclear what evidence authorities have gathered. Officials have executed search warrants, the sources said, and subpoenaed the victim's father-in-law and a brother-in-law to appear before a grand jury.

A 64-year-old Baltimore County grandmother was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without parole for her role in a murder-for-hire scheme that ended in the death of her daughter-in-law in late 1998. At yesterday's hearing in Howard County Circuit Court, Emilia D. Raras spoke publicly for the first time, saying she never wanted to kill her daughter-in-law, Sara J. Williamson Raras. "I would like to say to the honorable court that I had no intention at all to kill Sara," Raras said between sobs.

More than a year after the brutal killing of an Elkridge woman in her home, the trial of her Baltimore County mother-in-law on murder charges is scheduled to begin tomorrow in what authorities have called a murder-for-hire scheme that arose, in part, from a sense of rejection. Emilia D. Raras, 63, of Parkville is accused of paying a co-worker $3,000 to have her daughter-in-law killed -- a charge she denied during a tape-recorded police interrogation after her arrest in August. "In fact, I thought he's not going to kill her," Raras told detectives.

A woman charged with murder in the death of her Elkridge daughter-in-law last year told police that she hired a man to seek revenge but never intended to kill her."In fact, I thought he's not going to kill her," Emilia Raras, 63, told detectives during her interrogation in August. "Because he told me he is just going to stone the house. As a revenge. For me."Her comments are from transcripts of a tape-recording of the questioning played last week in Howard County Circuit Court during pretrial hearings.

During a 10-minute statement Tuesday in Howard County Circuit Court, Emilia D. Raras talked about how nearly a decade in jail has made her more religious and less angry. The 73-year-old Baltimore County grandmother, who was sentenced in 2000 to life without parole for enlisting a co-worker to kill her daughter-in-law in November 1998, said she didn't want to die in prison. "No person should die in prison," Raras said. In a hearing to ask retired Judge Dennis Sweeney to reconsider the sentence he had given her, Raras apologized for the act she committed and said she hoped others would forgive her. "Through the years in my solitude, I always think of Sara," Raras said of the woman she had had killed, Sara Williamson Raras.

An article yesterday in the Howard County edition of The Sun about the death of Sara J. Williamson Raras incorrectly described who has custody of her son. The father, Lorenzo D. Raras, had the child during his regular weekend visitation. The son is now living with the father and the father's parents.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 11/19/98

Sara J. Williamson Raras, a statistician and mother of a young child, was writing a novel about a statistician trying to solve a murder.On Sunday, authorities began their own murder mystery -- into the slaying of Raras, who was found dead from knife wounds in her Elkridge family room Sunday.Howard County police said little about their investigation yesterday, but friends and relatives recalled a "completely dedicated" 35-year-old mother and "brilliant" statistician who worked at the National Security Agency near Fort Meade.

Sara J. Williamson Raras, a statistician and mother of a young child, was writing a novel about a statistician trying to solve a murder.On Sunday, authorities began their own murder mystery -- investigating the killing of Raras, who was found dead from knife wounds in her Elkridge family room Sunday.Howard County police said little about their investigation yesterday, but friends and relatives recalled a "completely dedicated" 35-year-old mother and "brilliant" statistician who worked at the National Security Agency near Fort Meade.

A panel of three Howard County Circuit Court judges has rejected a Baltimore County woman's request for a reduction in the life-without-parole sentence she received for her role in the 1998 death of her daughter-in-law, an Elkridge resident. In a brief written opinion issued Monday, Judges Raymond J. Kane Jr., Diane O. Leasure and Lenore R. Gelfman said the arguments offered by Emilia D. Raras and her lawyers - that all levels of the judicial process involved in her case "got it wrong" - "are not within the scope of our review."

A teary Emilia D. Raras pleaded yesterday for a reduction in the life-without-parole sentence she received for hiring a hit man in November 1998 to kill her Elkridge daughter-in-law - a woman she claimed to "love like a daughter." Raras and her lawyers asked a Howard County Circuit Court panel of three judges to suspend all but 10 years of the sentence. The review panel likely will file its decision within 30 days. If the judges reduce her sentence and she is paroled after serving the mandatory minimum of five years, Raras could be free before her 70th birthday.