Homicide House: The Crimes at 9337 Columbia Blvd.

Middle school principal Brian Betts never suspected the home in Silver Spring, Maryland, which he recently purchased was the site of a recent murder until too late. Horrified, he tried to back out of the deal, but since Maryland law does not require realtors to disclose crime histories of homes, he was stuck in the deal. Years later, Betts would endure the same fate as the previous owner.

A 9-1-1 call came into dispatchers on August 6, 2002. Dispatchers heard incoherent screams and a man’s voice screaming for help. Then gunshots.

Police arrived moments later. Walking through the lawn to the door, officers heard what sounded to be gunshots. They walked into the home where they found George Russell wounded by gunshot lying on the floor. His 9-year-old daughter, Erika, was found dead upstairs.

Paramedics transported George to the hospital. Just before he died, he described to police the man who had shot and robbed him of $3 and the family Bible, then fatally shot his beautiful 9-year-old daughter, Erika. She lived with her mother in Washington but was spending time with her father when the robbery occurred.

Anthony Quinton Kelly, a man with a lengthy criminal history who had recently been released from prison on parole, climbed through the window armed with a German semiautomatic rifle that night.

Erika saw the man first and screamed for her daddy. That’s when Anthony attacked them.

He shot George eight times in the leg and chest. Anthony beat Erika in the face with the gun before shooting her in the back.

Erika's body was found in the closet where she had attempted to hide from the robber.

Three days later, Kelly struck again, this time killing a tourist. He’s currently serving life at the North Branch Correctional Institution in Columbia, Maryland.

Betts Purchased Home

The house sat empty for the next year. Middle school teacher Brian Betts purchased the property for $234,000. Talking to a neighbor, Betts learned about the murders. He called his real estate agent, Therese Cox, explaining the tragedy that unfolded in the home was unbearable; he could not possibly live there.

Cox told Betts he could not get out of the contract but did arrange an exorcism, a first in her 24 years as a realtor.

Years passed by Betts settled into the home, made friends in the neighborhood, and often hosted cookouts and fun gatherings. His creativeness in the classroom won him accolades. Mr. Betts was beloved in the community by all accounts.

Mr. Betts Fatally Shot

On April 15, 2010, Mr. Betts did not show up for work at the school. A coworker drove to his home to check on him and found the 42-year-old shot to death.

Five people were charged with the murder. As details of the murder unfolded, investigators learned the group set him up using a gay chat line. A man conversed with Brian on the dating app under the pretense of a hookup. Instead, the group, including the man who set up Brian and pulled the trigger, Alante Sanders burst into the home to rob Brian.

Then 19 years old, Sanders immediately shot Brian once inside the home. He later claimed that the gun went off by accident and he did not intend to shoot anyone. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Ex-Boyfriend Killed by Date from Facebook

O’Neil McGean, a man Betts dated for more than a decade prior to his relocation to Maryland, attended his ex-boyfriend’s funeral. He vowed that day to be careful as he mixed and mingled with other single men in online chat rooms.

Sadly, McGean was murdered by a man he met on a dating app six years after his ex met a similar fate.

In October 2016, McGean agreed to meet a man at a hotel in Mazatlan, Mexico, where he lived. He vanished, along with $16,000. His former lover, Jorge Guillen Gonzales, began receiving threatening text messages demanding ransom money.

The text messages continued for several days and then stopped. McGean’s body was found buried under concrete. Police suspect Gonzales lured his ex-boyfriend to his death.

Resources & More Information:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5077865/Former-lovers-lured-grisly-deaths-dating-apps.html

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2002-08-08-0208080102-story.html

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-dcd-1_06-cv-00633/pdf/USCOURTS-dcd-1_06-cv-00633-0.pdf

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/09/12/as-lapses-in-parole-rose-so-did-killings/a1a54de6-1a58-4798-8428-c9e9f999c6ef/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-may-29-la-na-hometown-silver-spring-20100530-19-story.html