Maryland's Mother-Daughter Killings
The Tables Turn
According to Special Agent Clare Weber, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore Field Division of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), JC Arms, a gun shop in Woodbine, Md., had been robbed of guns and other items in May 2009. ATF's investigation of the gun theft had led them, via an informer, to Jason Thomas Scott, 27, a part-time worker for United Parcel Service (UPS) for the past nine years. ATF obtained a warrant and searched Scott's residence.
Items found inside the house, where Scott lived with his parents and sister, during the ATF raid included computer files, a set of BMW car keys, a dozen guns, a police scanner, a silencer, and a bullet proof vest. Some of the items allegedly had been taken during break-ins in the area where the homicides occurred, according to what law enforcement officials told The Washington Post. ATF agents also found what could be construed as a burglar's kit: a crowbar, Gerber tool gloves and a ski mask.
During one of the searches of Scott's residence, police found a flash drive that contained photos of a naked, young female with a pillowcase over her head that they believe was connected to a June 13, 2009, Fort Washington incident, in which a young woman and her mother returned home and found a man holding the young woman's younger sister at gunpoint, according to court records. The perpetrator allegedly ordered the older sister into a bedroom, forced her to remove her clothes, took nude photos of her and sexually assaulted her.
Scott was arrested in July 2009 in a UPS parking lot on the weapons charges, and subsequently indicted on federal carjacking, weapons, and sex charges. Scott was held on the federal charges and remained in custody while Prince George's County homicide detectives built their cases against him. According to AOL News, Scott, of Upper Marlboro, Md., who lived in a suburban colonial home near the Dewitt home, was allegedly selling weapons out of the trunk of his car. He was initially charged with selling 14 stolen guns that included pistols, assault weapons, silencers and a machine gun following an undercover operation in which an informant bought four guns from Scott for $3,000. Three of those guns allegedly came from the gun store in Woodbine that had been burglarized earlier.
"For it to potentially have turned into such a significant case that affects this community, that's kind of why you want to go to work every day," Weber said after Scott's arrest.
"If we had to pick one moment in the investigation that was kind of the turning point, that was probably it — the search warrant on this guy's house by the ATF," Major Andy Ellis said. Scott pleaded not guilty and was scheduled to go on trial on the federal charges against him in November 2010.