A Baltimore man has been convicted of beating a woman to death and burning the home they shared to hide the murder, prosecutors said Thursday.
Michael Hauck, 51, faces life in prison after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and arson, the Office of the State's Attorney for Baltimore City said.
Hauck had been living with Patricia Tracey for at least a month by October 2014, when firefighters found her home burning in the Frankford neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore.
Tracey was found dead in the living room of the home on the 4400 block of Furley Ave. Medical examiners determined she was beaten to death about five days before the fire, prosecutors said.
Witnesses told police she and Hauck had argued violently on the porch almost a week before the fire. Also, investigators discovered Hauck had called a friend and said he needed that person as an alibi, prosecutors said.
"Any person who commits such a gruesome act of violence does not belong in our community, but in prison," State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said in a statement. "The court must impose the maximum penalty to ensure he does not have the freedom to kill anyone else."
Hauck was also convicted in 2000 of assaulting a woman in Carroll County, prosecutors said. The judge suspended that sentence, allowing Hauck to instead receive drug and alcohol treatment.