Sunday, November 12, 2017

Homicide victim found behind Wheaton CVS identified as missing woman, suspect arrested

Elmer Marilan Campos-Martinez has been charged
with second degree murder
Maryland's Chief Medical Examiner has identified the deceased person found behind CVS Pharmacy at 2321 University Boulevard West on Friday as Dania Mendez de Guerra, 21, of Amherst Avenue in Wheaton. De Guerra had been missing since leaving her shift at the nearby KFC restaurant at 12:30 AM last Monday, November 6.

Elmer Marilan Campos-Martinez, 47, of Cove Lane in Rockville, has been arrested for the homicide of de Guerra, and has been charged with second-degree murder. Detectives say Campos-Martinez was in a romantic relationship with de Guerra, whose husband was the one who reported her missing. The suspect and victim both worked at the KFC, and Campos Martinez left early that night to confront de Guerra when she left the restaurant around 12:30 AM.

Campos-Martinez acknowledged assaulting de Guerra, but not killing her. He punched her three times after she told him she wanted out of the relationship, he told detectives, and threw her to the ground. De Guerra struck her head on the ground, Campos-Martinez claimed, and was unresponsive. He said he then stole her cellphone and purse, and fled in a taxi. He later discarded the phone and purse in a dumpster, the location of which was not disclosed by police.

On Friday, November 10, de Guerra’s body was located behind the CVS. Her cell phone and purse were missing. There appeared to be trauma to her body.  The victim’s body was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, who ruled that the death was a homicide by multiple blunt force trauma and asphyxia.

Campos-Martinez remains in Montgomery County jail, and is being held without bond. Police did not comment on his immigration status. Other missing details raise additional questions.

A substantial portion of the police account sounds like the what the defendant's attorney might argue in court, and it's notable that in a he-said-she-said situation where only the suspect can testify, a lesser charge of second-degree murder is being entered. How could it be established on simply the suspect's account that it was not premeditated murder? Furthermore, the official account does not explain why, if the victim fell in a different (and yet-unidentified) location during the alleged argument and assault, she was not found until Friday afternoon.

Hopefully the answers will become clear as the investigation continues. Anyone with information regarding this homicide is asked to call the Major Crimes Division at 240-773-5070.

17 comments:

  1. So it turns out to most likely have nothing to do with MS 13. If a white woman had been missing in Potomac and her body was found would you have been assuming it was gang-related? You need to chill with the race-based conjecture. I think this is the second (maybe third) time this year you have tried to link a crime to MS 13 that ended up having nothing to do with gang acivity.

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  2. PEOPLE ON THIS SITE NEED TO CHILL AND TAKE THEIR MEDICATION !!!
    TRY REAL HARD TO BE RESPECTFUL AND NIX THE BAD LANGUAGE.

    I TOO WAS THINKING THE CRIME WAS PROBABLY GANG RELATED, BUT I TURNED OUT TO BE MISTAKEN. OK, DON'T CRUCIFY ME OR ROBERT DYER

    WHAT I DO KNOW THAT IS 100% FACTUAL IS THAT POLICE CHIEF MANGER HAS SPOKEN A OUT ABOUT THE GANG PROBLEM IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY. IN FACT MANY CRIMES IN THE COUNTY HAVE GONE DOWN; BUT
    GANG RELATED CRIME HAS GONE WAY UP. STATES ATTORNEY, McCARTHY
    HAS EXPRESSED THE EXACT SAME TRUTH.

    EVEN THE WAY LIBERAL MONT. CO. COUNCIL HAS RECENTLY APPROVED $900,000 TO FIGHT GANG CRIME IN THE COUNTY. SO WOULD THESE FOLKS THROW ALMOST ONE MILLION BUCKS AT A PROBLEM THAT DOES NOT EXIST ? AND TO REITERATE, I SPOKE WITH A POLICE OFFICER WHO ADMITTED THE POLICE FORCE IS 10 YEARS "TOO LATE" IN FIGHTING GANG ISSUES IN THE COUNTY !!!! HA !!! I CAUGHT HER IN A WEAK MOMENT !!

    FINALLY, IF I MAY EXPRESS A PERSONAL OPINION WITHOUT BEING THROWN UNDER THE BUS OR LABELED A RACIST ----- THE REAL PROBLEM IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY IS THE MONT. CO. COUNCIL ITSELF.

    YES, THE BURDEN IS ON THEIR SHOULDERS ----- A BURDEN TO TRY AN FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND --- THE ARMPIT OF AMERICA !!!!!

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    Replies
    1. Please don't type in all caps--it's considered yelling.

      Delete
  3. "A substantial portion of the police account sounds like the what the defendant's attorney might argue in court, and it's notable that in a he-said-she-said situation where only the suspect can testify, a lesser charge of second-degree murder is being entered. How could it be established on simply the suspect's account that it was not premeditated murder?"

    Why do you continue to publish such reckless speculation, in the absence of any verifiable evidence to support it?

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  4. From Dyer's previous article on this case:

    "MoCo gang horror reaches new heights"

    "[T]here clearly was no significant attempt by the perpetrator(s) involved to cover-up their crime. Only someone who doesn't fear getting caught would put a body behind CVS."

    "the coming turf war between MS-13 and a new spin-off rival may already have arrived."

    "MS-13 capos in El Salvador recently told recruits to head to Montgomery County, the Washington Post reported, as the County's sanctuary policies make it the ideal place to make their stand against the new rival gang."

    All of these are false. Especially the part about "The Washington Post reported."

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  5. I find it strange that her “husband” reported her missing. Elmer doesn’t look that attractive. If it was attempted rape after weeks of harassment, why would the prosecutor go with 2nd degree? Maybe it’s because he has foreign citizenship and therefor cannot be unduly punished in the U.S. So in Mexico, if that’s where he’s from, the maximum sentence for any type of murder is 20 years, so by treaty that is the most he can be sentenced to in the U.S. There is no point in going for murder one. So the story is she fell down and bumped her head, how Orwellian. He’ll be out in 3 years tops.

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  6. 1:43pm That's always the story, isn't it? She feel down and hurt her head. Man says he was scared and runs away.
    He'll get off lightly and the woman is dead. Hopefully Dyer will continue to report on this case until the conclusion.

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  7. Hey Dyer - the "legacy" media broke this story 12 hours before you did.

    https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2017/11/womans-body-found-wheaton-shopping-center-co-worker-charged-murder/

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  8. 3:29pm Umm...Robert has been reporting on this story for days.
    Good to see a local radio station follow his lead.

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    Replies
    1. Umm...Patch had the story first.

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    2. Patch? Lol. They haven't had reporters in MoCo for years.
      They scrape stuff like restaurant inspections and post as content.

      Now, let's get back to Robert Dyer, who is actually reporting on this story.

      Delete
    3. Now, let's get back to Robert Dyer, who is actually inventing his own facts and misleading his readers regarding this story.

      FTFY

      Delete
    4. 5:43: I'll check out Patch after I finish this search on Hotbot and check the movie times on Moviefone. Hold on, just got a message on AOL Instant Messenger. Or was that my beeper going off? LOL

      1:43: That's the problem with the apparent strong reliance on the suspect's version of events. Now, it could be that they are starting with second degree, and will upgrade the charges after they complete their investigation. You point out something increasingly troubling here in the county, which is that violence and rape against women is not taken seriously by our officials.

      7:20: Completely factual report, moron.

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    5. Umm...you use Blogger. I don't think you can throw stones on this one, Robert. This junky website format predates Patch's existence by almost a decade.

      Delete
    6. In fact, AOL Instant Messenger only predates Blogger by about a year - that's how ancient this format is.

      Delete
    7. 12:36: Umm...Blogger is no different from the competing template used by the small and slightly-failing magazine. Format is the same, old sport, only mine runs a lot faster and cleaner. No pop-up ads, either.

      Delete
  9. I thought we'd eventually get around to debating blog templates: My WordPress is better than your Google...lol. who cares?

    A blog is a blog.

    ReplyDelete