Kidnapping, Murder, and a Creepy Old Man

A University of Maryland medical student was kidnapped and taken to ATM machines. Picture of one of the suspects is at left.

In the county, Nankisoor Ramnath, 54, was charged with first-degree murder in the strangulation death of his wife, Nirmala Maharaj, whose body was found yesterday evening, reportedly by their daughter.

All murder charges were dropped against Adelphi student Nicholas Dudley Pinderhughes Weaver.

Remember the creepy old man found hiding in a Dundalk kids' bedroom? He pleaded guilty today to an attempted first-degree sex offense. Whatever that is.

FBI: Hate crimes are down in MD (maybe because self-hate crimes are on the uptick?)

Wheee! "Man not hurt after SUV drives into Inner Harbor"

50 Years for a Home Invasion, from the SAO (verbatim but with punctuation corrected):

Judge John Addison Howard today sentenced Wayne Morris, 22, of the 300 block of S. Calhoun Street to a total consecutive prison term of 105 years in prison suspending all but 50 years for the murder of Robert Atkinson and charges stemming from his participation in an armed home invasion that occurred in April 2006. Morris received 30 years incarceration for second-degree murder and 20-years for handgun counts. The first 20 years of his sentence are to be served without parole. He received 10 year sentences on each of 3 counts of first-degree assault, robbery, burglary and conspiracy to commit robbery.

Before sentencing Morris, Judge Howard denied defense counsel’s motion for a new trial. The State in a discussion of the pre-sentence investigation revealed that Morris became involved with the criminal justice system at age 14. His crimes escalated from CDS possession to assault to murder. A victim of the home-invasion told Morris in a crime victim impact statement that he did not hate him but, in fact said “I love and forgive you.” Morris asked the Judge to show mercy and not to throw his life away saying that he wanted rehabilitation.

On April 20, 2006 Morris kicked down the door at 1404 Kuper Street, announced a robbery, and shot and killed an occupant of the home, Robert Atkinson, 47. One victim was pistol-whipped and two victims, including a pregnant woman, were assaulted. All were robbed of various items on their person including cash and cell phones.

Morris has also been convicted of obstruction of justice. He was found guilty of attempting to prevent testimony in the home invasion and murder trial. Sentencing in that matter is scheduled for November 12 before Judge John Prevas.

A co-defendant, David Marshall, was acquitted of murder, robbery and assault charges in April. Marshall faces first-degree burglary charges in connection to this incident. Assistant State’s Attorney Theresa Shaffer of the Homicide Division prosecuted this case.