One by one, the family members of the elderly women raped and murdered by serial killer Raymont Hopewell made their way to the front of the courtroom Thursday.
Between tears, nine people told Baltimore City Circuit Judge John Glynn of the pain inflicted on them by Hopewell, 34, of the 2800 block of Chelsea Terrace in Baltimore.
“I don?t want to call him a person or a man,” said John Mack, whose 78-year-old mother, Sadie Mack, was murdered by Hopewell.
“He took her ahead of her time.”
Glynn sentenced Hopewell to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
Hopewell pleaded guilty Aug. 11 to committing five murders, four rapes and numerous other crimes, including robbery with a deadly weapon, assault and burglary between February 1999 through August 2005.
Two of victim Lydia Wingfield?s sons testified at Hopewell?s sentencing.
Her son Ivan said he wished Hopewell would receive the death penalty.
“I?m not happy with that at all,” he said of knowing that Hopewell would receive life sentences. “My mother begged for her life. She pleaded for her life. I feel this animal should face the same death.”
One elderly woman, who was raped but not killed by Hopewell and needed a walking cane to make her way to the front of the court room, told the judge of the horrors she endured.
“After he raped me, I felt used, abused and wasted,” she said.
After hearing the victims? statements, prosecutor Matthew Fraling turned to Hopewell and said, “You are the vilest of the vile.”
Hopewell made a brief statement before Glynn sentenced him.
“I want to tell everybody that I?m sorry for their losses,” he said.
At that, two women burst into tears and rushed out of the court room.
Crime line
Several of the rapes and murders committed by Hopewell:
» Constance Wills, 61, was raped and murdered in 1999 at her home on North Ellamont Street.
» Sarah Shannon, 88, was raped and murdered in 2002 at her home on Violet Avenue.
» Sadie Mack, 78, was murdered May 27, 2005, in her home on North Gilmor Street.
» Carlton Crawford, 81, was murdered Aug. 21, 2005, at her home on Greenspring Avenue.
» Lydia Wingfield, 78, was raped and murdered Aug. 30, 2005, at her home on Mount Holly Avenue.
