Maryland State Police Press Releases

TROOPERS INVESTIGATING APPARENT HOMICIDE AFTER BODY FOUND IN STATE PARK

(Linthicum Heights, MD) – Maryland State Police homicide investigators are investigating the death of a man whose partially decomposed body was found this afternoon in a shallow grave in a wooded area of a state park in northern Anne Arundel County.

The victim can only be described at this time as an adult male. No identification was found on him. His race is not immediately certain. The body has been taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy and to continue efforts to identify the victim.

About 3:00 p.m. today, two men were fishing at a pond in Patapsco State Park in a wooded area near the 1200-block of River Road, Linthicum Heights, Md. One of the men decided to move to another area to fish and walked through the woods. He found what appeared to be a human elbow protruding from dirt in the woods. He called 911 and officers from the Natural Resources Police and Anne Arundel County Police responded. Dirt was moved away from around the elbow and an arm was revealed.

Due to this being a possible homicide in a state park, Maryland State Police were called to conduct the investigation. Members of the State Police Homicide Unit responded and were assisted by troopers from the Glen Burnie Barracks Criminal Investigation Section, crime scene technicians from the State Police Forensic Sciences Division, and forensic experts from the Office of the State Medical Examiner.

The body was unearthed from a shallow grave in the woods. Investigators found signs of trauma on the body, but will await autopsy results to identify what caused them. It is unknown at this time how long the body had been there, but there was partial decomposition.

Anne Arundel County Fire Department personnel responded this evening and provided lights for troopers as the search of the area continued. State Police will be securing the area through the night and will continue to process the scene after daylight tomorrow.

BODY FOUND IN STATE PARK IDENTIFIED

(Linthicum Heights, MD) – The body of a man found yesterday afternoon in a shallow grave in the Anne Arundel County portion of a state park has been identified as a person reported missing from Baltimore City five weeks ago.

The victim is identified as Matthew C. Martin, 31, of the 1300-block of Haubert Street, Baltimore. Maryland State Police forensic experts were able to make the positive identification today through fingerprint analysis at the Forensic Sciences Division Laboratory in Pikesville.

Martin’s mother reported him missing to the Baltimore Police Department on April 9, 2010. Baltimore Police had been searching for him and he had been entered in the National Crime Information Center database. Baltimore Police have been assisting State Police investigators since the victim was identified as a missing person from the city.

Martin’s body was found by a fisherman walking through a wooded area shortly before 3:00 p.m. yesterday in a part of Patapsco State Park that is in Anne Arundel County, near the 1200-block of River Road, in Linthicum Heights. The body had been buried in a shallow grave.

After an autopsy was conducted today, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore ruled the manner of Martin’s death was a homicide. The cause of death is not being identified at this time.

A motive for the murder has not been determined. The investigation into the murder by the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit with assistance from the Baltimore Police Homicide Unit is continuing.

Anyone with information about Matthew Martin is urged to contact Maryland State Police at the Glen Burnie Barracks at 410-761-5130. The identity of callers may be kept confidential.