STATE HOSPITAL PATIENT CHARGED WITH MURDER

(Jessup, MD) – Maryland State Police homicide investigators are charging a patient at a state hospital with murder tonight after their investigation implicated him in the murder of a female patient at the hospital late last night.

The accused is identified as El Soundani El-Wahhabi, also known as Saladin Taylor, 46, who is a patient at the Clifton T. Perkins State Hospital in Jessup, Md. After consultation with the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office, El-Wahhabi is being charged tonight with first and second degree murder. He is expected to appear before a court commissioner later this evening for a bond hearing.

The victim is identified as Susan Sachs, 45, who was also a patient at the same hospital. The victim’s body has been transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy.

Maryland State Police at the Waterloo Barrack were contacted this morning by hospital staff after the victim was found deceased in her room. Members of the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit responded to the scene and are conducting the investigation.

The preliminary investigation reveals that at about 8:30 a.m. today, a hospital nurse went to Sachs’ room to check on her after she failed to go to breakfast. The nurse found the victim face down in her bed with a string ligature around her neck. Medical assistance was immediately summoned and doctors determined the victim was deceased.

State Police investigators and crime scene technicians have been at the hospital throughout the day processing the scene, collecting evidence and conducting dozens of interviews. Evidence gathered by investigators led to the arrest of El-Wahhabi this afternoon.

Both the accused and the victim had rooms in the same hallway of a hospital housing unit. Both had been court committed to the hospital as a result of previous criminal trials for murder.

A motive for the murder is not known at this time. The investigation is continuing.