Grand jury indicts mother of second-degree murder

A Loudoun County Grand Jury on May 21 indicted a Sterling woman of second-degree murder after she was charged with killing her 20-month-old daughter in 2005.

Vanesa Patricio-Cruz, 30, is scheduled for trial in Loudoun County Circuit Court on Sept. 19. In addition to second-degree murder, she was also indicted on charges of felony homicide and child abuse and neglect.

Cruz was arrested March 5 after an investigation by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office determined her daughter died from blunt force trauma.

The original investigation occurred Aug. 13, 2005, after the 20-month old died for “unknown reasons.” The infant, Jocelin Gutierrez, was brought to a South Riding Fire Rescue station by the family before they took her to Fair Oaks Hospital. She died later that night.

Authorities have so far been tight-lipped as to how they were able to charge Cruz seven years after her daughter’s death.

Court records detailing more on the case were unavailable as of May 22.

Owner faces charges for burning business

Also indicted on May 21 was Sonia Grimaldi, the owner of the Super Latin Grocery and Deli in eastern Loudoun, who allegedly set fire to her business.

Grimalidi, of Ashburn, is charged with malicious burning of an occupied structure after authorities said intentionally started a fire to collect insurance money.

A trial date has not yet been set.

According to reports, the fire caused $350,000 damage to the grocery and deli and $500,000 to the shopping center which housed the business in the 46000 block of Old Ox Road near the Town of Herndon border.

Authorities arrested Grimaldi after an investigation with an accelerant detection canine. The dog alerted on several locations within the store.  was brought in and gave an alert at multiple locations within the grocery store.

In addition surveliance video confirmed Grimaldi was at the business the day of the fire.

Burglary suspects to get day in court

A pair charged with a burglary spree through Leesburg have been indicted and one is on the lam.

Brian Romberger, 28, of Bristow, and Justin Easom, 24, of Manassas, are each charged with breaking and entering at night, grand larceny and three counts of credit card theft.

They were arrested March 16.

Easom is scheduled to plead guilty on July 9, however Romberger didn’t show for court on May 21 and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest, according to court records. No other information was available as of late May 22.

The two were already in the Prince William Adult Detention Center on unrelated charges when Leesburg Police charged them with five felony counts each relating to 21 incidents.

The incidents, according to Master Police Officer Christopher Tidmore, occurred between Feb. 19 and Feb. 22 throughout neighborhoods in the southwest and northeast areas of Leesburg.

The two were stealing items from vehicles and homes during the spree, Tidmore said.

During the home burglaries, the two would enter through open garage doors, he said.

Elias Abuelazam

A former Leesburg resident accused of a stabbing spree through three states was convicted May 22 of first-degree murder in Genesee County, Mich. where he’s accused of killing three people.

Elias Abuelazam, 35, began trial the week of April 30.

The jury deliberated for about an hour before returning with a guilty verdict, according to The Flint Journal.

Abuelazam was arrested Aug. 11, 2010, while he trying to board a flight from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta to Tel Aviv, Israel, his country of birth.

His capture came on the heels of a stabbing spree through Leesburg, where two men and a teenage boy were wounded.

Abuelazam was on trail in Michigan for the stabbing death of Arnold Minor, 49, who was killed in August 2010 in front of a motorcycle shop near Flint.

He’s also charged with two other murders and six cases of of assault with intent to murder for the Flint-area attacks, the Flint Journal reported.

Abuelazam is also accused of stabbing a church custodian in Toledo, Ohio.

Abuelazam is accused of a stabbing spree through Leesburg on Aug. 3, 5 and 6, 2010.

During the first attack on Aug. 3 a 15-year-old boy, Anthony Kage, was stabbed in the back while jogging in the area of East Market and Plaza streets.

The second victim, a 67-year-old man, was stabbed at 6:15 a.m. Aug. 5 while sitting on the front step of his apartment complex on Edwards Ferry Road.

The last victim, a 19-year-old Hispanic man, was attacked in a parking lot on Catoctin Circle NE on Aug. 6.

Police said the man was walking through a parking lot about 9:45 p.m. when a man in a Chevrolet Blazer approached him and asked for assistance with a vehicle problem.

As the teen approached the vehicle to help, Abuelazam tried to hit him over the head with a hammer. The teen was able to duck, receiving only a partial blow to the head before he ran for help.

Prosecutors in Loudoun have said they won’t charge Abuelazam here until he’s had his day in court in Michigan.

Leesburg Police also said in March they’re still investigating a possible link to Abuelazam and the March 2009 stabbing death of 44-year-old Jammie Lane.

Like many of the victims Abuelazam is accused of stabbing in Leesburg, Lane was an African-American man.

Court records show Abuelazam lived at 113 Adams Drive from at least 2005 to 2006.

Lane lived at 117 Adams Drive at the time of his death.

Scott Alexander Walker

The second of two men charged in connection with a 2011 botched home invasion that left their friend dead was sentenced May 11 to seven years in prison.

Scott Alexander Walker, 33, of Harpers Ferry, W. Va., was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Burke F. McCahill on one count each of attempted robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.

McCahill also gave Walker a suspended 13 year sentence, which can be revoked if he violates the terms of his 10-year probation order. 

According to court records, Walker and two other men planned a robbery at a home in the 1200 block of Kennedy Road in Sterling. One of the men, Sam Eaton, was familiar with the home because he had purchased drugs there on several occasions.

Eaton, 29, of Lovettsville, planned the heist and enlisted Walker and another man, Anthony Miles, 28, of Manassas, to assist.

Walker and Miles, armed with knives, went into the home on Feb. 10, 2011, wearing masks while Eaton stayed outside, armed with a pellet gun.

The two went to the bottom level of the home, where a safe was located, but were confronted by a resident. As a struggled ensued, they forced the resident to open the safe.

When the resident opened the safe, he retrieved a gun and opened fire. Walker was shot in the chest but was able to flee the home.

The resident and Miles continued to struggle, but the homeowner grabbed a second firearm and shot Miles twice.
Miles died at the scene.

“This case highlights the dangers of illegal narcotics in our community and the culture of violence that follows,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman said in a prepared statement.

On Feb. 22, McCahill sentenced Eaton to seven years in prison on a burglary charge and five years for attempted robbery. He also received 18 years of suspended time on top of his 12-year prison sentence.