A Maryland teen was arrested and charged with murder months after his missing high school classmate was found stabbed to death in a shallow creek, police said.
Ta’Quawn Deon Henderson, 17, of Germantown, Maryland, was charged with first-degree murder after police issued an arrest warrant on May 12. The teen turned himself in three days later at the Montgomery County Police 1st District Station Sunday night. Fox News reported that Henderson would be charged as an adult after murdering 17-year-old Jailyn Jones, a classmate at Northwest High School.
Authorities discovered Jones’ body on Jan. 24 in a shallow creek in Germantown, with multiple stab wounds to his head and torso, Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said at a press conference Monday. Doorbell footage captured the teen leaving his mother’s house on Jan. 21 at around 4:30 p.m, prompting his mother to report him missing days earlier.
Forensic experts analyzed a DNA sample containing blood from a pair of boots and jeans recovered from the scene. The blood found on the clothing was confirmed as Jones’ blood mixed with another individual. During the investigation, police said Jones told several people that he was planning to meet with “Tay,” believed to be Henderson.
Authorities confirmed through a search warrant that the second blood found in the DNA sample matched Henderson. While the investigation is ongoing, chief Jones said he couldn’t verify whether the teen’s killing was related to gang or bullying activity. He said the department is working with the school district to gain more information regarding the incident.
“We have seen an increase of violence particularly in the Germantown area recently that’s been really disturbing to some degree,” the police chief said, noting a “younger trend” of more homicide suspects being under the age of 18 in Montgomery County. “We want to assure the public we are doing our very best to try to stay on top of the information, but again we need cooperation from the community, and if they know there are some troubling signs going on in certain parts of our community, with youth who are again having sort of these conflicts with each other, we encourage them to contact authorities so that we can do something about this before we have a tragic ending such as we have today.”
“It makes no sense that this young man has lost his life,” he added.
Montgomery County District Judge John Moffett ordered Henderson to be held without bond on a single count of premeditated murder in Monday’s hearing. If found guilty, the teen faces the maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
“This investigation into this case is not over. There are some logical reasons for us to believe that there may be others involved,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said. “We always follow the evidence, and we’ll make those determinations. But there are people in this community – either children that are high school students in the schools where these boys both attended or parents who know. And we desperately need people to place some trust in their community and some faith in the state’s attorney’s office and the police department in this community to make us a safe place to live.”
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 27.
