MILLERSVILLE, Md. — DNA evidence linked a convicted murderer to the killings of three Anne Arundel County women dating back nearly 18 years, police announced yesterday.
Alexander W. Watson Jr., 34, was charged Monday with first-degree murder in the killings of two mothers — Fort Meade employee Boontem Anderson in 1986 and jogger Mary Elaine Shereika in 1988 — and high school freshman Lisa K. Haenel in 1993, police said.
“I think what this case showed is, we never close a case,” county police Chief P. Thomas Shanahan said at a press conference.
Watson was convicted in 1994 of killing office manager Debra Cobb in Prince George’s County. He is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at the Maryland House of Correction Annex in Jessup.
DNA evidence collected at the three other crime scenes and a DNA sample from Watson that was entered into a statewide database once he was incarcerated were critical to the new charges, Chief Shanahan said.
“Barring some other development, there’s a likelihood they would never be solved otherwise,” he said.
County State’s Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee said he hopes more prisoners will be required to have DNA tests to help solve more cases.
Watson was a teenager when two of the killings occurred. In each case, he lived just a few doors from his victims, according to address records obtained by the Baltimore Sun.
Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Shereika lived in Gambrills, while Miss Haenel lived in south Glen Burnie.
The police department’s cold case squad investigated the crimes for six years, during which they connected the murders to each other and then to Watson.
The Maryland State Police Crime Laboratory notified detectives in October of the link between Watson and two of the victims, said Sgt. David Waltemeyer, who heads the five-detective cold case unit. That gave investigators probable cause to pursue Watson as a suspect and build their case.
Police said they did not feel rushed to charge Watson because he has been behind bars for a decade.
Before his sentencing in the Prince George’s case, Watson wrote a letter in November 1994 to the judge asking for leniency. He called that killing “a terrible mistake” and blamed it on an addiction to crack cocaine.
“I still believe in my heart that I am a peaceful person,” he wrote.
Sgt. Waltemeyer said his squad is evaluating other unsolved homicides and assaults from the late 1980s and early 1990s, when he lived in Anne Arundel, to see if they have links to Watson.
“You’d certainly be remiss not to look at other cases,” he said, but added that focusing on a single suspect could lead investigators to “tunnel vision.”
There are about 25 unsolved killings in the county dating back to a 1970 rape and homicide on which police have DNA evidence, Chief Shanahan said.
About 80 percent of the open cases have physical evidence, Sgt. Waltemeyer said, but in the Watson case, the state’s DNA database made the difference.
“We’re very optimistic about future cases with DNA evidence,” said Sgt. Waltemeyer, an 11-year veteran of the county police department.
County Executive Janet S. Owens praised police for solving the cases. “Quantum leaps are taking place” in DNA investigations, and “we’re pleased it could lead us to today,” she said.
Mr. Weathersbee said his office has not yet determined whether to seek the death penalty for Watson.
A trial date will be set within three months, he said, and 30 days’ notice must be given before a death penalty trial.
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