Convicted killer pleads guilty in 1987 cold case murder

Helem, who was already serving a life sentence for the 2002 killing of Patricia Bentley, his ex-girlfriend, confessed in 2021 to the 2 chilly circumstances. Officers mentioned Helem informed detectives data solely the individual accountable for the killings would know. A grand jury in each Fairfax County and Prince George’s County indicted him within the homicides in January.

“At the moment, the neighborhood can start to maneuver towards peace and closure,” Descano mentioned. “I’m grateful for the cooperation throughout companies and jurisdictions that helped clear up this case, together with from Fairfax Police Chief Kevin Davis, Prince George’s Police Chief Malik Aziz, and the chilly case detectives in each jurisdictions.”

Man in jail for ex-girlfriend’s homicide now accused in two cold-case killings, police say

Earlier than Helem’s confession, Sober-Adler’s loss of life remained unsolved for greater than 30 years. Building staff on Sept. 8, 1987, discovered Sober-Adler in a area close to a Herndon-area Days Inn that was below development. She was nude and overwhelmed. Her automobile was discovered on the shoulder of the westbound lanes of the Dulles Toll Street a brief distance away.

An post-mortem decided her explanation for loss of life was a cranium fracture and cerebral hemorrhage brought on by an unidentified object. Police consider Sober-Adler had parked her automobile on the shoulder the night time earlier than and walked across the space.

In 2002, the physique of one other girl was found in a wooded space on Oak Lane in Mount Rainier. She had been strangled and lower on her neck, police mentioned. Authorities recognized the sufferer three years later as Landry via a fingerprint match.

Girl discovered slain in 1993 is recognized via genetic family tree

Helem admitted to choosing up Landry in D.C., whereas he was soliciting intercourse for cash, Aziz mentioned in January. Helem informed police he killed her simply throughout the county line in Mount Rainier and left her physique within the woods, officers mentioned.

Helem was already serving a life sentence in Pink Onion State Jail in Virginia for the 2002 killing Bentley, 37, whom prosecutors allege he strangled with a twine and his palms. Bentley, a single mom of two boys, had pushed a bus for Loudoun County colleges for six years.

Helem might be transferred to Maryland to plead responsible to Landry’s killing and serve the rest of his life sentence, in keeping with Descano’s workplace. The switch of custody was a part of an settlement between the governors of Maryland and Virginia.