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A Baltimore man is charged with kidnapping and killing his aunt’s estranged husband in Frederick County as part of a conspiracy after a body was found weeks ago in a car in the middle of a field.
Keon Wilson-Hawkins, 20, faces charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping and carjacking related to the Jan. 10 killing of 65-year-old Brice Wendell Boots of Pikesville.
Frederick sheriff’s deputies and the U.S. Marshals Service on Monday carried out a search and seizure warrant in Baltimore and arrested Wilson-Hawkins.
Wilson-Hawkins and his aunt, former Baltimore Police Officer Frances Virginia Hamilton, were seen with Boots the night before he was found dead. Hamilton and Boots were in the midst of a divorce and Boots had “expressed fear for his safety from Hamilton on prior occasions,” prosecutors said.
Deputies discovered Boots’ body the afternoon of Jan. 10 inside a vehicle in a field near Walkersville along the 8200 block of Crum Road. A caller reported the vehicle had its flashers on and had been there since 7 a.m. Officials began investigating the death as a homicide based on evidence located on the scene.
Deputies closed portions of Crum Road to the public for two days while crime scene investigation took place.
After finding Boots, detectives went to his home looking for the next of kin. While there, prosecutors said, neighbors reported seeing Hamilton and a man believed to be her nephew at the house the night before.
The day after finding Boots dead in a field, deputies searched his home. The state’s attorney said investigators found evidence of a fight inside the house and that Boots was abducted.
Hamilton was found dead in Anne Arundel County on Feb. 24. Prosecutors said her cause of death appears to be suicide.
Cellphone data compiled by investigators showed that Boots, Hamilton and Wilson-Hawkins were at the house on Jan. 9, prosecutors said. Hamilton and Wilson-Hawkins were seen that evening on surveillance video from a nearby business approaching Boots’ home, prosecutors said.
Boots and Wilson-Hawkins left the house just after 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 10, driving on Interstate 70 toward Frederick.
The two arrived in the 8200 block of Crum Road at about 6:20 a.m., prosecutors said. Wilson-Hawkins left Crum Road at around 6:30 a.m., prosecutors said, and went back to his home in West Baltimore.
No attorney was listed as representing Wilson-Hawkins in court records Tuesday afternoon.
“This very disturbing murder has been a non-stop priority for our agency since it occurred in early January,” said Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins in a news release Monday. “This crime is another example of individuals from outside of this county committing violent crimes locally and somehow believing their crimes won’t be solved.”
Detectives went above and beyond, Jenkins said, to gather evidence, build a case for indictment and prosecution and arrest the suspect without incident.
Hamilton was a Baltimore Police officer from October 2001 through January 2007. Court records show she was fired after being accused of falsifying paperwork.
This article will be updated.
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