One of two young men charged with the murder of a 15-year-old Baltimore girl pleaded guilty Monday, agreeing to a plea deal of 25 years in prison.
Calvin Puryear, 21, admitted his role in the July 10, 2007, killing of Christine Richardson, whose mother found her stabbed to death wearing a pink dress in her bedroom.
The other man, Lloyd Chase, 18, has pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact, a felony that carries a maximum five-year prison term. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 6.
Prosecutors said they had to sift through differing accounts of the killing from Puryear and Chase, both of whom blamed the other for the crime.
Puryear initially told police that he and Chase arrived at Richardson’s home in the 300 block of South Fulton Street at 12:45 a.m. and Richardson met them at the front door, telling them to go to the back door, charging documents state.
Once inside, the two males went upstairs with Richardson and both had sex with her, Puryear said.
After having sex, Chase began to argue with the girl, according to Puryear, who told police he held her legs while Chase cut her throat and stabbed her several times, charging documents state.
But Chase told officers he wasn’t there the night Puryear killed Richardson, said Joseph Sviatko, a spokesman for the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office. After hearing Puryear brag about the killing, Chase later went by the house and saw Richardson’s body, but did nothing to help investigators track down Puryear, Sviatko said.
Prosecutors ultimately determined that Chase’s version of events was more reliable than Puryear’s, after they found Puryear’s DNA on the girl, Sviatko said.
The girl’s mother, Ginger Brown, who had talked to her daughter on the phone at about midnight, returned home from work at 2:08 a.m. to find her daughter dead and called police.
