Maryland man charged in killing of missing 19-year-old Dacara Thompson: Police
Prince George Police Department
(PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Md.) — A Maryland man has been arrested and charged in the killing of a 19-year-old woman who was reported missing last month, Prince George’s County police announced Friday.
Hugo Hernandez-Mendez, 35, of Bowie, is charged with first- and second-degree murder in the death of Dacara Thompson of Lanham.
On Aug. 31, Maryland State Police discovered a body in neighboring Anne Arundel County. The remains were later identified as Thompson, prompting a joint investigation with county detectives.
Investigators said surveillance footage showed Thompson approaching a black SUV in the early morning hours of Aug. 23. After speaking to the driver, she entered the vehicle.
Police said the SUV went to a home in the 12000 block of Kembridge Drive in Bowie, where evidence indicates she was killed in a bedroom.
Hernandez-Mendez allegedly had access to the SUV and lived in the bedroom where the killing occurred, investigators said.
Detectives are working to determine whether Hernandez-Mendez and Thompson knew each other before Aug. 23.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has not released a cause of death, but investigators said they expect the case to be ruled a homicide.
Hernandez-Mendez is being held without bond.
Police urged anyone with information to contact the Homicide Unit at 301-516-2512 or call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
(YORK COUNTY, Pa.) — A shooting involving police officers has occurred in southern Pennsylvania, state officials said Wednesday.
“Please send prayers to the officers and those involved in the shooting in York County,” Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said on social media. “As we learn more, follow all guidance from police and stay away from the area.”
Two people are being treated at Wellspan York Hospital in connection with the incident, a hospital spokesperson confirmed to ABC News. It is unclear how many people total may have been injured, or the seriousness of the injuries.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he has been “briefed on the situation involving law enforcement in York County” and was on his way to the scene in North Codorus Township.
The state’s attorney general, Dave Sunday, said he is also en route to the area amid the “ongoing situation.”
All schools in the Spring Grove Area School District are sheltering in place “due to an officer-involved incident in our area,” the school district said in a statement while stressing the situation does not involve any of its schools or students.
“Local authorities have advised us to hold students and staff in our buildings as a precaution while several area roads are closed,” the district said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Stock image of police lights. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
(DETROIT) — Police are looking for a man they said shot and killed his ex-wife at a hospital in Detroit and then fled the scene.
The shooting occurred before 10 a.m. local time Friday in the basement of Henry Ford Hospital, where the victim worked, according to Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison.
The suspect allegedly fired multiple shots from a handgun after getting into a “verbal altercation” with his ex-wife, Bettison said during a press briefing.
The suspect — identified as 53-year-old Mario Green — then fled the hospital in a 2011 white Dodge Charger, Bettison said. He was captured on video leaving the facility at approximately 9:55 a.m., the chief said.
“He is presumed to be armed and dangerous,” Bettison said. “We expect to have him in custody very, very shortly, but we’re asking for the community’s help.”
Bettison said there is no longer an active situation at the hospital, but it remains a crime scene. No other victims were located following a sweep of the hospital, police said.
Police did not release the name of the victim, who was approximately 40 years old. Bettison said he did not know what she did at the hospital or how Green was able to access the basement.
About a month ago, the victim had filed for a personal protection order against her Green, according to Detroit Assistant Police Chief Charles Fitzgerald.
“Unfortunately, it was not served on her ex husband, so it almost brings us here today, ” Fitzgerald told ABC Detroit affiliate WXYZ.
Green has an address in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and is described as being approximately 6 feet 4 inches.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NASHVILLE) — It was long believed that Pauline Mullins Pusser, the wife of the legendary Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, was shot and killed in an ambush meant for her husband, but new evidence suggests that it was the late sheriff who killed his wife.
A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation report uncovered “inconsistencies in Buford Pusser’s statements to law enforcement and to others,” District Attorney Mark Davidson said at a press conference Friday.
Law enforcement uncovered physical, medical, forensic, ballistic and reenactment evidence that contradicted the McNairy County sheriff’s account of his wife’s 1967 murder.
The sheriff’s story inspired the movie “Walking Tall” in 1973 and several sequels, a 2004 remake and several books, Davidson said.
Buford Pusser died in a car accident in 1974.
“This case is not about tearing down a legend, it is about giving dignity and closure to Pauline and her family and ensuring that the truth is not buried with time,” Davidson said.
The sheriff had reported that his wife volunteered to ride along with him in the dark, early morning hours on a disturbance call. He claimed that a car pulled alongside his and fired several shots toward them, killing Pauline and injuring him in what he claimed was an ambush intended for him carried out by unknown assailants, according to Davidson.
The sheriff, who was also shot in the ambush, recovered from his injuries and no viable suspects were found and no charges were filed.
Investigators now believe that Pauline Pusser was shot outside the vehicle then placed inside the vehicle, which is not what Buford Pusser has told investigators at the time of the murder.
“This was a cold case for decades but in 2022 TBI agents took another look at the archive file and coordinated with our office. That work accelerated in 2023 and in 2024, Pauline Mullins Pusser was exhumed for an autopsy,” Davidson said.
“It’s been said that the dead cannot cry out for justice, it is the duty of the living to do so. In this case that duty is being carried out 58 years later,” Davidson said.
Investigators used modern forensic science and investigative techniques that were not available in 1967, officials said.
A new autopsy also revealed cranial trauma suffered by Pauline Pusser does not match crime scene photographs of the interior of the vehicle she was allegedly killed in. Blood splatter on the outside of the vehicle also contradicts Buford Pusser’s account of the murder, Davidson said.
A forensic investigator also determined that a gunshot wound to Buford Pusser’s cheek was a close contact wound, not long range as he had described, and was likely self inflicted, Davidson said. Blood splatter analysis also indicated that someone was injured both inside and outside the vehicle, he said.
