Diaspora News of Friday, 16 January 2009

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Woman, boyfriend found dead in their gated community home

A 36-year-old woman and her 40-year-old boyfriend have been found dead in their Upper Marlboro (Maryland, USA) gated community home.

Police said Thursday that Seth Aidoo was stabbed, and Eunice Baah, whom neighbors said was about three months pregnant, was shot in the head. Police could not confirm Baah’s pregnancy and are awaiting the results of an autopsy.

The couple’s bodies were found around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday after a family member, who usually hears from Baah daily, became worried about their welfare and called police.

The couple was last heard from on Monday and police are trying to determine when they might have been killed. They were last seen at a family gathering Saturday night.

Police are now reviewing security camera footage from the Oak Creek community, a gated neighborhood where homes nestled around a 7,250-yard golf course sell for around $1 million.

Aidoo’s Mercedes-Benz was found in Glen Arden on Wednesday and police hope the killer was caught on a security camera driving the vehicle from the crime scene. There are hundreds of hours of video for police to examine.

Police said there were signs of a forced entry in the back of the house on the 14500 block of Turner Wootton Parkway. A bullet had pierced the walls of the home and came to a stop in a neighbor’s house, but it wasn’t discovered until Wednesday morning.

Among the people being questioned are boarders who rented rooms from Aidoo, police said. Detectives are still trying to determine a motive for the killings.

Neighbors said Aidoo, an immigrant from Ghana, worked for Health Industry Distributors Association, an Arlington-based trade association representing the medical products distribution industry. Baah, also from Ghana, was a nurse.

While some neighbors cited concerns that cars are able to easily get past the community’s security gate, Thelma McDonald, who lives down the street from Aidoo, said, “It’s a secure neighborhood. Things like that can happen no matter what you do.”

Calls to Oak Creek management Thursday were not returned.