Police: Fifth county slaying this year, third from domestic violence
By Kellie Woodhouse
kwoodhouse@patuxent.com
A homeless woman died Thursday from injuries incurred when she was attacked by her boyfriend and set on fire in North Laurel last month — the third death in Howard County this year from domestic violence, police said.
Police say Pamela Myers, 37, was living in a wooded area near Gorman Road with her boyfriend Richard Rodola, 48, when Rodola, angered over a dispute the two were having, set her afire on the afternoon of Oct. 23.
According to charging documents, Myers suffered severe burns on over 70 percent of her body.
She was in critical condition since the incident, but on Thursday died of her injuries while receiving treatment at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
Rodola was originally charged with arson and attempted murder, but police say they are elevating his charges to murder. Rodola has a history of criminal behavior, and has been found guilty of second-degree assault and drug possession, according to court records.
Myers’ death is the fifth slaying in Howard County this year, up from two in 2009.
Her killing also is the third in three months that county police believe is a result of a domestic dispute.
All three women were in their mid-30s, all were involved with men older than they were and all of the suspected perpetrators had previous run-ins with the law.
In September, Thelma Wynn, 34, was violently stabbed to death by her ex-husband, who tried to cover up the crime by setting Wynn’s apartment on fire, police say.
Also in September, Clare Stoudt, 35, was shot to death by her long-term, live-in boyfriend, who turned the gun on himself after killing Stoudt, police say. Just days before their death, the couple had become involved in a custody battle over the three children they shared together.
Howard County Police Spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said the three incidents did not indicate an uptick in domestic violence or murder in the county.
“We don’t think that these incidents... are indicative of an increase in domestic violence overall, as sad and tragic as they are,” she said. “They’re unrelated and they just happened to occur in times that were close.”
Llewellyn said police have a domestic violence task force in place that monitors couples who have a history of violent arguments. In each of the three incidents, Llewellyn said police had no knowledge of a pattern involving domestic disputes.
“Unfortunately a domestic incident can’t necessarily be prevented... unless there have been issues there before that we can monitor, and that hasn’t been the case in any of these situations,” Llewellyn said.
Charging documents reveal that Rodola and Myers had been arguing a lot leading up to the Oct. 23 incident and had talked of ending their relationship.
The arguments escalated on Oct. 23 and another homeless couple, who also lived in the woods, witnessed the violent incident. The couple told police that they observed Rodola yell at Myers and pour gasoline on her as she sat in a chair and cried, charging documents state.
Rodola did not light Myers on fire immediately. Instead, he told her to leave the area, charging documents state.
While requesting a ride from a friend during a telephone conversation, Myers told the friend, “Ricky tried to light me on fire,” which angered Rodola, charging documents state.
Rodola snatched the phone from Myers, accused her of trying to “rat” him out and used a pocket lighter to set her gasoline-soaked clothes on fire, the witnesses told to police.
The witnesses observed Myers become “immediately engulfed in flames which covered her entire body,”
according to charging documents.
Before fleeing the area, Rodola told the victim “I love you, I’m sorry, please tell the police you were putting gas on the fire and you lit yourself on fire,” the witnesses told police.
One of the witnesses ran to a nearby Weis grocery store and called police to report the burning.
Police located Rodola two hours later on Greenwood Place, in Savage.
He was originally treated for minor burn wounds and is now being held at the Howard County Detention Center without bond.
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