Statements a Baltimore County man made after he was arrested in connection with the September 2005 murder of a Dundalk woman who was found stabbed to death in a burning home can be admitted as evidence when the case goes to trial later this year, a Baltimore County judge said Monday.
Geremiah N. Johnson, 23, is charged with murder, attempted murder, assault and arson in the stabbing of Evelyn Amereihn, 63, who was found by firefighters on the second floor of the home in the 7200 block of Holabird Avenue, according to charging documents.
Amereihn?s 16-year-old granddaughter was walking up to the house with her boyfriend that morning when she heard the smoke alarm going off inside.
Christina Amereihn stood on the porch as Johnson allegedly walked out the front door with a knife in his hand, stabbed her boyfriend, William Mitchell, in the neck, and grabbed Amereihn before telling the pair to leave, the documents say.
Mitchell and Amereihn drove to the emergency room and called 911.
Firefighters got to the scene and found the home in flames, the documents say. They found Evelyn Amereihn inside.
Defense efforts to suppress comments Johnson made to police following his arrest five days after the slaying, as well as photographic lineups from which Johnson was picked as the suspect, were denied.
Members of Amereihn?s family filled a row of seats in the courtroom Monday and watched a video recording of Johnson, sitting in a police department interrogation room the night of his arrest, going over his Miranda rights with detectives.
“It?s been just a lot of stress, a lot of worrying,” Glen Rhoades, Amereihn?s son, said of the months since she was killed.
Rhoades described his mother as “pretty much a homebody” who loved wrestling and soap operas, and reading the Bible.
“She was just laid-back. Nothing was a worry to her,” he said. “She could get along with everybody.”
