Alexander Wayne Watson

Overview

Alexander Wayne Watson Jr., born on September 24, 1969, is an American serial killer whose heinous crimes spanned from 1986 to 1994. Initially, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a woman in Forestville, Maryland. However, as DNA technology advanced, investigators were able to connect him to three more murders committed years prior in Anne Arundel County. Watson eventually pleaded guilty to these additional charges, receiving four more life sentences to be served consecutively.

Quick Facts

• Born: September 24, 1969
• Age: 55
• Location: Anne Arundel County, Maryland, U.S.
• Conviction: First-degree murder (6 counts)
• Criminal Penalty: Life imprisonment without parole
• Details:
  • Victims: 4
  • Span of Crimes: 1986–1994
  • Date Apprehended: 1994
  • Imprisoned at: North Branch Correctional Institution

Murders

The chilling tale of Alexander Wayne Watson begins on October 8, 1986, when tragedy struck the home of 34-year-old Boontem Anderson, a mother of two. She was on sick leave from her job at Fort Meade when she was brutally murdered in her own home in Gambrills, Maryland. Her naked body was discovered in the bathtub by her fiancé's 11-year-old son, a moment that no child should ever have to witness. Anderson had been sexually assaulted, stabbed, and strangled. Intriguingly, Watson, who lived only a couple of miles away, was acquainted with the family through their son, with whom he worked at a local fast-food restaurant.

Fast forward to May 23, 1988: 37-year-old Mary Elaine Shereika set out for her routine morning jog, but she never made it to work. Her fiancé reported her missing, and later that day, a farmer plowing his rye field stumbled upon her partially clothed body. Like Anderson, Shereika had been raped, stabbed, and ultimately strangled. A bloodied sock was found nearby, a grim detail that would haunt investigators. Watson, who lived close to Shereika and had also known her, was in a park using drugs that morning when she jogged past him. In a chilling turn of events, he decided to follow her, dragging her into the field where he committed this horrific act.

By the early 1990s, Watson had married and fathered a child, relocating his family to the Southgate apartment complex in Glen Burnie. However, on January 15, 1993, the community would face another tragedy. Fourteen-year-old Lisa Kathleen Haenel, a ninth-grade student at Old Mill High School, vanished while walking her usual route to school. Her mother reported her missing, and tragically, it was her mother's boyfriend who discovered Lisa’s body hidden in a ravine behind the school the next morning. The young girl was almost completely nude except for a sock, and like the other victims, she bore stab wounds and strangulation marks. Unlike the previous cases, there was no evidence of sexual assault, but investigators managed to collect DNA from an unsmoked Newport cigarette found near her body, which contained traces of Lisa's blood and saliva from the killer.

The final act in Watson's horrifying spree occurred on June 13, 1994, when he killed 37-year-old office manager Debra Cobb during a robbery at her workplace in Forestville. Watson was arrested shortly after the crime, as he worked in the same office plaza. During his trial, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, attributing his violent actions to his addiction to crack cocaine. In December 1994, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to the Jessup Correctional Institution. Remarkably, he remained unaware that he was linked to the earlier murders until more than a decade later.

Exposure

The breakthrough in this case came with advancements in DNA technology. Investigators entered the evidence collected from the three earlier crime scenes into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). In 2004, a match was made, linking Watson to the unsolved murders. By 2007, he was charged with these additional killings. To avoid a potential death sentence, Watson pleaded guilty to all charges. When questioned about other possible crimes, he maintained that these were the only ones he was responsible for.

Ultimately, he received four additional life sentences, which were to be served concurrently with his original sentence. Watson was then relocated to the North Branch Correctional Institution, where he remains incarcerated today.

Sources

• "Maryland DOC Inmate Locator". dpscs.state.md.us. Archived from the original on December 29, 2020.
• Julie Bykowicz (July 14, 2004). "Years after 3 killings, DNA technology allows evidence to point to a suspect". The Baltimore Sun.
• Andrea F. Siegel (August 17, 2007). "Killer gets 5 life terms". The Baltimore Sun.
• Raymond McCaffrey (August 17, 2007). "Inmate Pleads Guilty in Years-Old Killings". The Washington Post.
• Arthur Santana (July 14, 2001). "DNA Links Convicted Killer to 3 Md. Slayings, Authorities Say". The Washington Post.
• "DNA links con to other killings". The Washington Times. July 13, 2004.

For more details, you can visit the original Wikipedia article here.