Md. Man Hid in Grandmother’s Closet — Then Killed Her When She Came Out of the Bathroom, Say Police

A 27-year-old Maryland man is in custody after allegedly admitting he hid in his grandmother’s bedroom for hours before emerging from a closet and killing her, authorities said.

At about 8 a.m. on Sunday, March 30, Spencer Dillon Hamilton of Potomac walked into the Rockville City Police Station and told police that he had just killed a family member, the Montgomery County Police Department said in a statement.

Officers and fire rescue personnel rushed to Titus-Dillon’s home, where they found Dr. Pauline Yvonne Titus-Dillon, 87, a retired internal medicine doctor at Howard University Hospital, unresponsive in the bathroom.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hamilton was arrested at the Rockville City Police Station and charged with first-degree murder.

According to the charging documents reviewed by People, Hamilton allegedly admitted he was “lying in wait inside the victim’s bedroom closet” before attacking his grandmother between 4 and 4:30 a.m.

He said he stabbed her in the back, punched her in the face and head with his hand and then strangled her with his hands, the charging documents allege.

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Afterward, Hamilton said he tried to move his grandmother’s body, according to the charging documents.

After trying to clean up the scene, he said he took her credit cards, cell phone and laptop, the charging documents allege.

The motive for the alleged slaying is unclear. When Hamilton appeared in Montgomery County District Court on Monday, March 31, he was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, NBC 4 Washington reports.

Titus-Dillon was a 1964 graduate of Howard Medical School and later became an associate dean there, according to the Howard University Medical Alumni Association, The Washington Post reports.

“She was a brilliant woman. Just a great, great person,” family friend Nicole Cutts told The Washington Post. “She came up at a time when there were not a lot of women in medical schools.”

Her grandson remains held in Montgomery County Correctional Facility, according to online records. He is scheduled for his next court hearing on April 7.

It is unclear whether he has retained an attorney to speak on his behalf.