(Left) 19-year-old Hestina Harris and (right) her grandmother, 67-yr-old Lillie Morris. (Photos: Md State Police and Facebook)
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — A 19-year-old woman charged with fatally stabbing her grandmother told police she saw a man in a ski mask and black hooded sweatshirt running from the house shortly after the attack, according to charging documents released Monday.
But police say Hestina Harris’ statements are inconsistent and don’t fully explain why there was blood on her arms and on a T-shirt that investigators found in an upstairs bathroom.
Police also found no sign of forced entry to the home near Burkittsville that Harris shared with her grandmother Lillie Morris, Morris’ husband and Harris’ 4-month-old child, according to the documents.
Morris was found mortally wounded on her front lawn on the afternoon of Dec. 22 with a large kitchen knife lying nearby.
The victim’s husband told police he had left home earlier that afternoon to go to his job as a public school custodian.
Harris was arrested Wednesday. She acknowledged the bloody T-shirt was hers but said it had become stained as she knelt “chest-to-chest” over her grandmother’s body on the lawn.
Several witnesses who had stopped by to offer assistance told police they never saw Harris leave the front porch.
Harris was being held without bail pending an afternoon bond review.