Slain Maryland Nurse Remembered by Family, Friends

Hundreds of people gathered Wednesday evening to remember Moneta Strickland during a candlelight vigil in Great Mills, Md.

Strickland, 32, was last seen Thursday heading to John V. Badgett Park and later reported missing.

Her body was found Sunday near the Three Notch Trail, and medical examiners say the cause of her death was determined as blunt force trauma. Her cousins told News4 she was engaged to be married and had worked as a nurse at Saint Mary's Hospital.

"It still hasn't hit me yet," Strickland's cousin Mark Fleming told News4. "I still feel like I'm going to send her an email tonight. It's rough. She just got a wedding dress. If you knew Mo for a minute, you loved her."

Tuesday, 31-year-old John M. Quade, Jr. -- a registered sex offender -- was arrested in her murder. A funeral has been scheduled Friday.

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