From the Prince George's County Police Department Thelma Elaine Steele, 92, was found slain in her District Heights home late Monday night.

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From the Prince George's County Police Department William Roger Fitts, 15, of the 2900 block of East Avenue in Forestville, was arrested and charged Wednesday as an adult with first-degree murder in the killing of his 92-year-old neighbor, Thelma Elaine Steele, of the same block. Her body was found in her home Monday night.

From the Prince George's County Police Department Thelma Elaine Steele, 92, was found slain in her District Heights home late Monday night.

 

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A 15-year-old Forestville youth confessed to breaking into his 92-year-old neighbor’s home and fatally beating and stabbing her, according to court documents.

Charging documents filed in the Prince George’s County District Court said William Roger Fitts, who lives across the street from Thelma Elaine Steele in the 2900 block of East Avenue, stabbed her “numerous” times and left her “slumped over on the couch” before ransacking the house.

Fitts was arrested the morning of Aug. 17 after police searched his home and he confessed to the killing, said Col. Craig Howard, deputy chief of Bureau of Support Services. That evening, Fitts was charged as an adult with first-degree murder.

Police said Fitts’ motive was robbery, although they declined to confirm what may have been stolen. Charging documents did not detail what was taken, aside from confirming that items were stolen from the property.

Howard said that during an additional search of the Fitts’ home the day he was charged, police found the knife believed to have been used to kill Steele.

Public defenders Erin Josedale, Anne Gold-Rand and Gale Saccarelli are assigned as defense attorneys, according to online court records. They did not return calls requesting comment by press time.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled in Prince George’s County District Court for Aug. 31.

Cpl. Evan Baxter, a spokesman for the Prince George’s County Police Department, said Tuesday that police have no information about whether Fitts has any prior criminal history, but any records would have been sealed because he is a juvenile.

Her body was found Aug. 15, when a neighbor noticed Steele’s mail piling up and called her daughter. Howard said she died sometime the week before.

Sabrina Barnes, 55, who has lived on East Avenue since 2000, said she was coming home from a trip to Ocean City on Aug. 15 when she saw the police tape. She didn’t know Steele personally.

“It gives you a bad feeling to think that someone would do something to a 92-year-old woman,” she said. “This is a quiet street. We’ve never had nothing like this.”

Barbara Stone, a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier, delivered mail to Steele’s home every day.

“She was a beautiful lady,” Stone said. “Every time I needed to know the name of a plant, all I had to do was take it to her and let her see it.”

nmcgill@gazette.net

ewagner@gazette.net