Police Arrest Germantown Man in Woman’s Death

Stephan Lunningham | MCPD

A 29-year-old Germantown man has been charged in connection with the slaying of a North Bethesda woman, whose body was found inside an automobile on fire near Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.

Stephan Leroy H. Lunningham of Harmony Woods Lane has been charged with first-degree murder, according to a statement from Montgomery County police. The victim is Angela Fay Thomas, 49, of Grosvenor Place. Lunningham is being held without bail at the Montgomery County Detention Center, according to online court records.

Police said he will have a bail review Thursday.

About 4:22 a.m. March 14, the county’s Emergency Communications Center received a call for a brush fire in a wooded area in the 13700 block of Wisteria Drive, police said.
Fire & Rescue personnel responded to the fire, which was between Wisteria Drive and railroad tracks. As Fire & Rescue personnel put out the fire, they found a dead woman in the back-seat area of the vehicle, police said.

Police detectives and fire investigators from the Montgomery County Office of Fire and Explosive Investigations started an investigation.

The victim’s remains were taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) in Baltimore and an autopsy was completed. The Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide. The victim has been tentatively identified as Thomas, police said.

During the investigation, Lunningham was developed as a suspect because of his association with Thomas, police said. On March 19, a criminal warrant was issued for Lunningham’s arrest, charging him with the first-degree murder of Thomas and first-degree arson.

Lunningham was arrested March 21 when police stopped his vehicle on Interstate 495 near the Colesville Road exit, police said.

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