A Hyattsville man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Howard County Circuit Court yesterday in the slaying of an elderly man at a Jessup motel last June.
Marcos Olvera Ramirez, 27, could be sentenced up to 25 years in prison as part of a plea agreement he accepted before Judge Dennis Sweeney. Ramirez will be sentenced on May 16.
Ramirez was initially charged with first-degree murder in the strangulation death of Shelton Woodrow Thigpen, a 74-year-old self-employed accountant from Silver Spring. Mr. Thigpen's body was found wrapped in a white sheet at the Cedar Motel on U.S. 1 on June 23. It was naked except for a pair of white socks and a belt wrapped tightly around the neck.
Had Ramirez been convicted of first-degree murder, he could have been sentenced to life in prison. That charge and seven other counts were dropped by the prosecution as part of the plea agreement.
Senior Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Murtha said the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service may deport Ramirez, who is a native of Mexico.
As part of the evidence presented to Judge Sweeney, Mr. Murtha said Ramirez called his landlord after his arrest and confessed to the slaying. Ramirez did not make any statements to police investigators.
The landlord reported to police that Ramirez told her that Mr. Thigpen took him to the Cedar Motel after offering him a job doing work at his home, Mr. Murtha said.
The woman reported that Ramirez told her that Mr. Thigpen wanted to have sex and tried to hug Ramirez, who refused the advances, Mr. Murtha said. The two men then got into a struggle.
"[Ramirez] felt desperate and the next thing he knew, he killed him," said Mr. Murtha, quoting the landlord. "He was afraid he was going to hell, and he wanted to repent."
The police investigation was hampered at first because detectives could not identify the body. Mr. Thigpen's 1990 Buick Park Avenue and his wallet had been stolen.
Mr. Thigpen was identified as the victim four days after his death when his wife recognized a police sketch of him in a newspaper.
Ramirez became a suspect when police found Mr. Thigpen's car abandoned near his home in Hyattsville. Ramirez left the car at an acquaintance's house.