A 30-year-old man has been charged with killing his parents inside their home in the 9500 block of Queens Guard Court in Laurel.
Craig Dennis White faces first- and second-degree murder and assault, said Howard County police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn, after his father, Glenn White, 66, and mother Linda White, 61, were found dead Thursday evening.
Police were called to the residence around 6:15 p.m. when it was reported that the couple did not show up for a meeting. During their search of the home, officers found Glen White with stab wounds in a bedroom and his wife, Linda, with blunt force trauma in the basement. Both were deceased.
Craig White was later found in Columbia, police said, where he was arrested in a traffic stop. He was living at the residence with his parents.
At noon Friday, neighbor Sonja Burketh said she was beginning her fifth loop around the cul-de-sac, which she described as a family-friendly, joyful environment she's cherished over the last 20 years. The Burketh and White families were close, she said, always popping in to say hello.
But news of yesterday's murder left Burketh in shock.
"What happened? Why? It just doesn't make any sense to me," Burketh said. "A family that you've been connected to for at least 20 years — it doesn't make any sense. The mother who you used to see going by just sitting on your front porch, the father you used to see come in [from work], the son come on to the porch to say, 'Hi, how are you?' It doesn't make any sense whatsoever."
Burketh said Craig White was following his career in martial arts, while his mother, Linda, worked various freelance jobs, and his father, Glen, worked for the government in Washington, D.C. A mother of five, Burketh said her children, particularly her 30-year-old son, grew up playing with the other children in the neighborhood, including Craig.
"Craig was like a son to me in that closeness," she said. "I would probably say I was closer to Craig. He bonded with my child over the years and I bonded with him. As neighbors, of course, I bonded with the parents."
"Not in a million years," Burketh said, did she think this would happen. But she said she will remember the good times with Linda and Glen White.
"Linda was beautiful, very quiet [and] very soft-spoken, but with a really subtle sense of humor," Burketh said. "I'm going to remember her beauty. She was a beautiful woman. Glen was quiet. He would see you when he'd come back and wave. That was consistent for almost 20 years."
Police charged Craig White Friday morning. He is in the booking process at the county jail.