Pair Sentenced To 40 Years For 2017 Killing And Dismembering Former Roommate

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Calling the defendants’ actions senseless, thoughtless and heinous, an Anne Arundel County judge on Friday sentenced a man and woman connected to the disappearance of their former roommate, Megan Tilman to the maximum 40 years in prison, State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess announced.

Christina Harnish, also known as Christina Stallings, and William Rice previously entered a plea to second-degree murder in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court in Annapolis.

“Megan was a vulnerable young woman who was killed by two people she trusted who worked their way into her life and took advantage of her financially.” Leitess said. “Her family long awaited answers for this crime, and I hope today’s sentence brings a sense of closure and relief from the nightmare of an unsolved murder of a beloved daughter and mother.”

“I again want to thank all of the agencies involved and the efforts of Assistant State’s Attorney Glen Neubauer. It was not easy building a circumstantial case against the defendants, but we took the challenge head on and now the killers are held accountable.”

In the fall of 2017, Rice and Harnish were roommates of Tilman and her elderly mother and had relied on their financial support. When Tilman stopped providing that support, she disappeared. Family reported that they stopped hearing from Tilman, who regularly spoke with her young daughter on the phone. Her ex-husband reported receiving suspicious text messages and seeing social media posts on her account that were distinctly different from her normal communications.

By that time, Rice and Harnish had fled to Arizona by bus.

In October 2017, shortly after her disappearance, Tilman’s remains were discovered in the bay in Shady Side’s Cedarhurst community. Police linked

both defendants to Tilman’s missing vehicle. Rice was identified as the man seen driving Tilman’s vehicle to multiple ATM machines around the time she went missing. Harnish posted photos of herself to social media as she drove the vehicle to rehome her pet before the pair fled the State. The car was later found abandoned not far from a bus depot.

The pair were arrested in Arizona and extradited to Maryland in early 2022, where they have been held without bond.

The Honorable Cathleen Vitale presided over the case.