Suspect charged in Hagerstown park murder had previous murder conviction in Southern Md.

A homeless man indicted this week for the murder of his wife, whose body was found last spring at a Hagerstown park, had previously served time in prison for a murder in Charles County, Md., according to court records and Hagerstown City Police.

Anthony Lee Donnelly, 41, of no fixed address, was arrested Thursday after being indicted by a Washington County grand jury on Tuesday in the death of his wife, Rachela Virginia Disandro, 37, of Hagerstown, according to a Hagerstown Police news release.

Investigators were looking for Donnelly, including using a drone though that's not how he was found, said Lt. Rebecca Fetchu, spokesperson for Hagerstown Police. Donnelly was seen getting into a car near Reach of Washington County, which serves the homeless, and officers conducted a traffic stop on Salem Avenue, Fetchu wrote in a text Friday. He was arrested without incident.

Disandro's body was found early on May 26 inside a stone alcove beneath the porch of the Hager House, an 18th-century structure built by the city's founder that is in Hagerstown City Park. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Donnelly served time for 2001 murder in Charles County

Fetchu confirmed that Donnelly is the same man who pleaded guilty in 2002 to a murder in Charles County in Southern Maryland. Donnelly was released from state prison in October 2022, she wrote in an email.

"We believe he met Rachela that same month and they were married in February of 2023," Fetchu wrote.

Donnelly pleaded guilty in Charles County Circuit Court on July 26, 2002, to first-degree murder for an incident around June 29, 2001, according to his online docket for that case. He was sentenced that September to 30 years in state prison, with 202 days credit for time served.

According to a July 28, 2002, Washington Post story about the plea hearing, Donnelly admitted to luring Jerome A. Brown, 44, from a shopping center parking lot shortly after midnight that June 29 to a dark area, where Robert M. Hall of Lusby, Md., hit Brown on the head with a baseball bat. Donnelly then robbed Brown of several hundred dollars he had from his pay as a sheet metal worker. Brown died a few days later.

Hall also pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, according to the Post story and his online case docket.

The Post called the case "one of Southern Maryland's most brutal murders of 2001."

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According to the Hagerstown Police release, the indictment alleges Donnelly stabbed Disandro to death.

Donnelly was being held at the Washington County Detention Center and had a bail review hearing scheduled for early Friday afternoon in Washington County Circuit Court.

Bail review hearings are scheduled in serious criminal cases, but murder suspects are typically held without bond.

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Donnelly has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and possession of a dangerous weapon with intent to injure.

He faces a possible sentence of life in prison for the first-degree murder charge alone.

Police said at the time of Disandro's death, she was known to sleep where she was found, and that it was likely she knew her attacker.

Fetchu praised the forensic scientists for the "excellent job" they did processing the evidence and the criminal investigators who "worked hard" from the time of Disandro's death through giving testimony to the grand jury.

There was a lot of evidence to process, Fetchu said in a phone interview Friday.

"A crime scene like that can be daunting for anyone, especially those working that scene," Fetchu said.

Investigators learned "pretty quickly" that Disandro was married to Donnelly and that he had a previous criminal history, she said.

Fetchu said Disandro had family and friends in the area who were willing to speak to investigators about Donnelly and his relationship with Disandro, which was of great help in the case.

Speaking about the amount of time it took to charge Donnelly through an indictment, Fetchu said there are procedures for processing evidence, they had to wait for "results" on some of that evidence, and officials had to ensure they had probable cause to move forward with an arrest.

There were a lot of pieces to the investigation, which prosecutors had to present to a grand jury to show a clear picture of what police alleged happened so grand jury members could see there was enough evidence to move forward with prosecution, Fetchu said.

Grand juries are formed periodically for prosecutors to present cases for their consideration.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Suspect held in death of Hagerstown woman found in City Park