A man has pleaded guilty to killing a 74-year-old woman in her home in Wheaton. News4’s Chris Gordon reports.
The man charged in the death of a 74-year-old Wheaton, Maryland, woman pleaded guilty Thursday.
Kwasi Sadler, 23, of Northeast Washington was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Linda Cheryl Johnston, police said.
Johnston's body was found wrapped in a sheet inside her Arcola Avenue home Aug. 3. She'd been stabbed multiple times.
Police believe Johnston was murdered sometime between July 31 or Aug. 1, the same day the suspect was in contact with Johnston's former tenant, charging documents state.
Sadler targeted Johnston after helping a friend move out of her house, prosecutors said. He got in by kicking open a padlocked door and took a knife from her kitchen to stab her.
Johnston's former tenant told police she moved out of the victim's home on or about July 29. The woman said she had to move because Johnston wanted her out by July 30, according to charging documents.
Johnston's friends and neighbors told News4 that Johnston rented out the basement of her home to help ends meet and had some concerns after asking a tenant to leave.
Sadler and Johnston's former tenant spoke multiple times around the time of Johnston's death, police said. Three of the calls were placed Aug. 1, the same day a neighbor reported seeing a man standing outside Johnston's home, charging documents state.
Immediately after Johnston's death, Sadler and his girlfriend used the victim's credit cards to make a series of purchases, police said.
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"He used her credit card to purchase snacks on a video that we have, and there are other videos that we have of him using her credit card," Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said.
A call was also placed from the suspect's phone to Johnston's bank, requesting that the victim's personal identification number be changed, police said.
Sadler was also seen in surveillance footage driving the victim's gold Prius. After his arrest, Sadler told police where they could find Johston's car.
Sadler's girlfriend was also charged in the case.
