Anyone with information on the Sara Sapp
murder can call the joint State Police / St.
Mary’s Sheriff’s criminal investigation team
at (301) 4750-4200 ext. 1952 or Crime
Solvers at (301) 475-3333.
By Kenneth
C. Rossignol
ST. MARY’S
TODAY
LEONARDTOWN — A fire which investigators say
started in a woodstove ripped through
several mobile homes owned by a man who was
charged in a high-profile murder in St.
Mary’s County.
The
trailers are located on Cartwright Road near
but not in the Christmas Tree Trailer Park
located off of Fairgrounds Road at
Leonardtown.
Deputy
Fire Marshal Jeff Frye reports that the fire
caused $15,000 damage to the structures and
another $15,000 to the contents.
The owners
of the trailers are Christopher Wilson and
Dorothy Ham.
Wilson was
charged with the murder of Sara Sapp which
took place on June 26, 1992. Sapp’s body was
discovered in a burning car next to a barn
located on a farm in Charlotte Hall. When
firefighters responded they found her body
in the car which was afire and pulled her
from the vehicle. She was dead and the body
was severely charred from the flames. The
fire was intentionally set to cover up her
murder.
The case
languished for about ten years after
initially being bungled by the Maryland
State Police.
The State
Police sent an amateur detective to the
scene and he and his sergeant left it
guarded only by a yellow tape without vital
evidence being sought.
The
completely slipshod investigation sparked
reforms in how the state police responded to
murder scenes after that case, devoting
intense resources instead of letting some
jackass decide it was a weekend and he was
going to be off work. When a murder scene is
left without key evidence gathering taking
place it is hard to tell how much the
stupidity of the police hurt this case. If
such bungling took place in CSI on TV
someone would have been disciplined.
To their
credit, the State Police later took over the
murder of Claudia Pickeral, a 13-year-old
girl who was killed by Keith Green at
Longview Beach. St. Mary’s Sheriff Richard
Voorhaar and his corrupt Captain, Steve
Doolan, bungled that case and after good
work by State Police detectives, Green was
charged. Not long after her murder, Green’s
home was set afire.
Sapp was a
waitress at a now closed up tavern and many
of the people she associated with were not
too much help to police with some of them
proclaiming she had committed suicide, even
though they couldn’t account for the fact
that she was strangled before her car was
set on fire.
While
police suspected a boyfriend and others
including a possible hitchhiker, Wilson was
finally targeted.
Wilson was
charged in the case and after a trial which
depended upon the testimony of witnesses of
ill repute, the jury was unwilling to
convict Wilson, ending in a hung jury. A
second trial presided over by Circuit Court
Judge Vincent Femia ended when the Judge
concluded that all of the witnesses were
involv ed in drugs and or intoxicated in
connection with their testimony and found
Wilson not guilty.
No one
else was ever charged in the murder.
The fire
this week took place at about 1:32 am on
Dec. 31st and firefighters from Leonardtown
VFD were assisted by Avenue, Bay District,
Hollywood, and Valley Lee. The fire was
brought under control in about 45 minutes.
The two-alarm fire was stubborn and spread
to two other trailers and through an attic.
