A little after 10:30 on the night of March 16th, Charles County Sheriff’s Officers arrived at the scene of Charles County’s first murder of the year.  Budds Creek Road, in Charlotte Hall, quickly flooded with a torrent of emergency personnel. 

Kristin Timko (Chas Co Sheriff’s Office, Information Officer) told The Bay Net that the first deputies on the scene were (understandably) greeted with chaos.  Three guests from a party at the Budds Creek Road home had been stabbed by a fourth, Ronald Eugene Cannady (22, Oxon Hill), who fled the scene on foot before officers arrived. 

 

Ronald Eugene Cannady (22, Oxon Hill)

Each victim required immediate medical attention.  Richard Blane Barlow, Jr (37, Charlotte Hall) was pronounced dead at the scene from his stab wounds.  Another Charlotte Hall man (25) and a La Plata man (31) were rushed to Prince George’s County Hospital Center.  The Sheriff’s Office is withholding their names as a safety precaution.  They are expected to make a full recovery. 

Officer Timko, speaking on behalf of the investigating officers, told The Bay Net that those deputies not involved in the care of the victims and the protection of the remaining guests, were putting together a workable description of Cannady and searching for him with the additional help of helicopters and K-9 officers.  He was found a short time later, arrested and charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder.  Cannady is being held at the Charles County Detention Center without bond; if convicted, he could face a very long jail sentence.

In the course of their investigation, Detectives T. Miner and K. Keelan pieced together that Cannady was brought to the party by the La Plata man.  While the cause is still under investigation, at some point an argument began among the Cannady, Barlow and the other two victims.  Some of them had been using marijuana and PCP that night, so the fight grew heated.  During the fight, Cannady fatally stabbed Barlow and wounded the other two men.  A fifth unnamed guest bravely tried to intervene at some point and was cut in the process. 

This is the first homicide in Charles County this year.  There were five murders in the County in 2006.


 

Officer Kristin Timko contributed to this article. 

Anna Dailey is the Bay Net’s associate editor covering Charles County. To contact her about this article or other community events comment below or email annadailey@thebaynet.com. 

Photo courtesy of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office.