All three locals have one more thing in common: they all live with their moms in the Lexington Park area and have brown eyes.
It was almost like hell on earth—at age nineteen having an innocent man’s blood in your hands – but Thursday afternoon in Courtroom 1 of Judge Robert Riddle at St. Mary’s District Court the alleged killer and his two accomplices in related armed robberies, all appearing separately, seemed to be calm and poised.
“I just want to know why sh*t like that happens,” said a co-worker of deceased Kenneth Walters, 24, who like a second friend present in the court, chose anonymity. “I don’t have any comments, just many questions.”
Originally from Pennsylvania, the victim’s friend told The Bay Net he had seen Walters the night before the murder February 27, 2007. This friend was in the court on behalf of the victim’s family. A second friend of Walters, a St. Mary’s native, was also present. All three worked at DynCorp, which with 1,500 employees stands out as the largest defense contractor in St. Mary’s County.
Johntonna Young, age 20 and resident of Great Mills, admitted to shooting Walters in the face with a Glock 9mm handgun on Liberty Street, Lexington Park, early the morning of February 27th. Police received a 911 call after Walters’ body was found slumped inside his car in the parking lot of his apartment.
Young’s attorney from the public defender’s office, Sean Moran, told The Bay Net Young’s indictment is expected next week. Elizabeth Young, mother of the alleged killer, had complained to court officials on March 8th about the delay over finding a public defender for Young, who was being held without bond.
Detective First Class William Raddatz of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, who resolved the murder mystery, said in his statement of probable cause, “The Defendant [Young] states that he shot the victim while in the process of stealing a camcorder from the victim’s automobile.”
Young, sleek with a giraffe like neck, was wearing black band and is described in court documents as a GED, black, five-eleven and weighing 160 pounds, and has the ID No. 2987046. He was produced in court twice Thursday.
“Sheriff you may take him back to the lock up,” Judge Riddle ordered earlier in the afternoon. He then went into recess for reviewing the cases.
“I need the services of the public defender’s office,” Young responded to a query from Judge Riddle, when he was later brought to the court.Young is incidentally the youngest member of an alleged crime troika, police and court records show.
A second member, Terrell Thomas, age 21 and resident of Lexington Park, was described in court documents as black, five-nine in height and 200 pounds, with ID No. 2745313. He was wearing a black sweatshirt, blue jeans and white sneakers Thursday. A plainclothesman was seen handcuffing him and conducting his body search prior to the hearing.
Thomas, who was sentenced on December 16, 2005 to four years in jail for drug pushing, came to the court as a free man as he was released on a bond of $50,000 last month. He briefly sat on the seats on the left front side