Moneta Strickland’s uncle Michael Jordan (c) says prayers on the Three Notch Trail near the spot where his niece was murdered.
Mechanicsville, MD — There’s not a day that goes by that St. Mary’s County Director of Recreation and Parks Brian Loewe doesn’t think about it. Two years ago (on Aug. 9) Moneta Jo Strickland, 32, was brutally murdered on the Three Notch Trail adjacent to John V. Baggett Park at Laurel Grove, facilities under the control of Loewe’s department. Loewe says he and Sheriff Tim Cameron talk about the murder frequently.
Strickland was jogging on the trail that day when she was accosted and murdered by registered sex offender John Quade. A St. Mary’s County jury acquitted Quade of first-degree murder but convicted him of second-degree murder. At his trial a tape from a video surveillance camera across the street was shown to the jury in which he moved his car from the park parking lot to the Apple Basket parking lot. He was then seen walking across Route 235 to the trail before murdering Strickland. A year ago he was sentenced to 30 years in jail, the maximum penalty in Maryland for second-degree murder.
Strickland was a registered nurse in the telemetry unit at MedStar St. Mary’s. She was beloved in her workplace and in the community, as evidenced by an outpouring of love at a memorial service held the week after her death at another park, Chancellor’s Run Regional Park in Great Mills.
A day before the second anniversary of her death Saturday, Aug. 8, many family members, friends and those who didn’t even know her personally assembled at John V. Baggett Park for a memorial walk on the trail. Loewe was there with his wife and son. Moneta’s mother Thelma Strickland welcomed everyone, and her brother, Moneta’s uncle Michael Jordan led a prayer as all formed a circle and joined hands.
Mrs. Strickland then led the early part of the more than half-mile walk along the trail as everyone said the rosary and prayed.
The trail near the murder site is marked with a wreath. A tree near where her body was found has a cross on it (shown above). Loewe told the BayNet that he is working with the family to come up with an appropriate permanent memorial.
At that location the walkers assembled to hear touching remarks and prayers from Jordan, a former St. Mary’s County resident who is retired and now lives in Prince George’s County. Jordan said of his niece, “She was one who loved to run. That was her passion.”
Jordan thanked God for the “time he allowed us to have Moneta with us.” He added, “Everything in life has a purpose. Maybe it was her time for Him to take her home. Maybe God needed a distance runner. Maybe she is not a runner (in heaven). Maybe she is the coach.”
Earlier Jordan observed that the world is in turmoil. “Now is the time to pray. There is much unnecessary violence in the world. Petition God, to cry out to him that his will be done.”
Jordan and his sister Mrs. Strickland then led those assembled at that spot of horror with the words to the poem “For All Affected by Violence.”
After arriving back at the park many of the walkers gathered around to share memories of Moneta Strickland, whose death shocked St. Mary’s County then and still reverberates within it two years later.
.Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com
