23-year-old Ashley D. Owens was charged with second-degree murder in the killing of 69-year-old Richard Changsun Nam. According to authorities, Nam was stabbed with a box cutter and beaten with a chansaw. His body was found by firefighters who realized his injuries were not from smoke and fire alone:
Surveillance video and witnesses were key in tipping investigators to Owens’s alleged involvement, said Maj. Michael Straughan, commander of the Prince George’s County police’s criminal investigations division. He said Owens eventually told detectives she stabbed Nam with a box cutter, beat him with a chain saw, then used gasoline to set fire to his store in the 5400 block of Annapolis Road.Owens is also charged with first-degree arson and armed robbery, though money apparently wasn't the primary motive. According to police, the two had some kind of argument during which Owens got violent. (A box cutter and a chainsaw? Seriously?) Senseless. More here: Prince George's County Police Charge 23-Year-Old For Shop Owner's Murder.
Owens also told police that she took more than $2,000 from the store, Straughan said, but he said detectives do not believe robbery was a primary motive. “We believe the murder occurred over the dispute," Straughan said. He declined to elaborate.
