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A Prince George's District Court judge ruled today that there is probable cause to go forward in the prosecution of a man accused of killing a 17-year-old Bowie girl in 2005.

Prince George's County police arrested McDonald Abraham III, 25, on Oct. 7 in connection with the case after detectives re-examined it through the department's Cold Case Unit.

Stacey Seaton was found shot in the back of the head on June 1, 2005, in a park in the 3200 block of Scarlett Oak Terrace, near her Bowie home.

After listening to testimony by county police Det. David Morissette and questions from Abraham's public defender and a county prosecutor, Judge Richard Collins ruled police had probable cause to charge Abraham in Seaton's death and his prosecution can go forward.

Police have charged Abraham, of Riverdale, with first-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, and use of a handgun in a violent crime in connection with Seaton's death.

The state has 30 days to indict Abraham, said Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey.

Abraham was considered a person of interest in the case after Seaton's death, Morissette testified at Abraham's hearing in District Court in Upper Marboro Thursday.

After the Cold Case Unit picked up the case in April 2009, it located several new witnesses who provided information that Abraham intended to harm Seaton because he believed she was responsible for the theft of illegal drugs and money from the Bowie apartment where he lived at the time, Morissette said in court.

One witness, who also reported Abraham was in possession of a small caliber, semi-automatic handgun shortly before Seaton's death, is cited as having been interviewed in April 2009 in the statement of charges provided by police.

Three other witnesses, who reported having heard Abraham make threats against Seaton, were interviewed in 2005, according to the statement of charges, which does not name the witnesses.

A review of Abraham's cell phone records showed he called Seaton several times on the day she was found dead, the charging document states. By tracking the use of Abraham's cell phone through satellite, police ascertained that Abraham was in the area of the park where Seaton was shot about an hour before she was found, according to charging documents.

"The suspect was actually seeking out the victim in the case," county assistant state's attorney E. Wesley Adams added in court.

Michael Beach, Abraham's public defender, stated in court that his client was at a hotel in Lanham, about 10 miles away, at the time of the shooting and that satellite tracking of a cell phone might not pinpoint him to the exact location in which Seaton was found.

Beach also questioned the circumstances under which witnesses gave information to police about the threats they claimed to have overheard.

"We don't know who the witnesses are ... or whether they are reliable," Beach said in an interview after the hearing.

E-mail Andrea Noble at anoble@gazette.net.