An Owings Mills man suspected of breaking into his former Ellicott City home and fatally shooting his estranged wife Monday night has disappeared with his two sons, Howard County police say.
Investigators said Daniel Scott Harney, 40, of the 4300 block of Flint Hill Drive is wanted for questioning in the slaying of Shirley Scott Harney, 41, and the wounding of her 45-year-old male friend.
Mr. Harney had not been charged yesterday, police said. He was last seen driving a grayish 1987 Toyota Camry with Maryland tags VEJ169.
The couple's two sons, 8 and 10, have not been seen since Mr. Harney picked them up Monday afternoon from the home in the 5000 block of Brampton Parkway in Ellicott City, police said.
"We don't know the whereabouts of the children," said Sgt. Steve Keller, a police spokesman. He said the couple apparently had agreed earlier that the children, students at Worthington Elementary, would stay with Mr. Harney for a while.
Police would not identify the wounded man "because he is a material witness," Sergeant Keller said. Investigators were waiting to talk with the man yesterday.
A man whose Honda Accord was parked in the dead woman's driveway was being treated for injuries at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore yesterday. Hospital officials said they were ordered not to release any information on the patient.
A busload of 23 Howard County police recruits searched the Brampton Hills community yesterday morning for a murder weapon and other clues in the homicide, the fourth of the year in Howard County.
According to police, Mr. Harney picked up his two sons, Paul and Ryan, between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Monday.
About 9:30 p.m., someone broke a 15-by-36-inch rear basement window, entered, went to an upstairs bedroom, struggled with Mrs. Harney and her friend, and fired several shots before driving off, police said.
Kenny Tolson, a next-door neighbor, said he was watching "Jurassic Park" Monday night when he heard arguing and "two or three big bangs" from the Harney house.
"I looked out the window and heard this screeching," Mr. Tolson said. "A car was speeding down the street."
The male victim, injured only in the arm, called 911 and emergency officials arrived minutes later, police said. They found Mrs. Harney, dressed in a black nightgown, lying at the end of her driveway with a gunshot wound to the head.
Mike Chaconas, a neighbor, said he saw police gathered around the body. A man "who looked upset" sat on the front steps and was being questioned by police, Mr. Chaconas said.
"The suspect and the male victim didn't know each other prior to [Monday] night," Sergeant Keller said.
He also said that an autopsy by the state medical examiner's office would help determine how Mrs. Harney got to the end of her driveway -- "whether she fled outside or was pulled" by someone.
Drops of blood covered the front porch yesterday, and blood was smeared in the front doorway. Skid marks lined the street in front of the two-story brick house.
Residents said the Harneys, who had been separated for several months, didn't interact much with their neighbors.
Before the separation, Mr. Harney, an employee at Westinghouse, would be seen playing football with his two sons on their lawn. Mrs. Harney, a legal secretary for three months at Venable, Baetjer and Howard in Baltimore, was often seen jogging early in the morning or running with her husband as their two sons followed on their bicycles.
Next-door neighbors said they would sometimes hear the Harneys arguing, but police and court records showed no reports of domestic violence at the house.
In the past few months, Mr. Harney, who seldom talked with neighbors, had not been seen. Mr. Tolson and other neighbors said they saw his two sons playing catch with another man, apparently a friend of Mrs. Harney's.
"[The homicide] surprises me," Mr. Tolson said. "You never figure something like this would happen."
Neighbors at Mr. Harney's Baltimore County address said they did not know him.
xTC Anyone with information should call Howard County police at 313-2220.