Copyright CBS News
Nearly three decades after a woman was murdered in the suburban Washington, D.C., hospital where she worked, police believe they may have finally identified her killer. Sheryl Crandell was discovered unresponsive inside of her office at Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly, Maryland, on Jan. 13, 1998, according to Othram, Inc., the forensic laboratory that eventually helped authorities resolve her case. An autopsy later showed that she died from strangulation and had been sexually assaulted. Crandell, who was 50 at the time, had been employed at the hospital as a patient coordinator. Although DNA was recovered from the scene, investigators could not identify a suspect in the killing until now. Cold case detectives from the Prince George's County Police Department reopened their probe some 27 years after Crandell's death, when advancements in technology and investigative techniques allowed them to revisit the evidence more thoroughly, said Police Chief George Nader at a news conference on Tuesday. Using investigative genetic genealogy, police partnered with the forensic lab and the FBI to produce new leads in Crandell's case. Forensic tests brought potential familial links to the suspect to the fore and, in the end, confirmed what the laboratory described as "a key genetic relationship" that guided detectives to their conclusion. Police identified the suspect in Crandell's murder as Baari Shabazz, formerly Edward Barry Watts, who lived less than a mile away from Prince George's Hospital Center when the killing took place. Shabazz died in 2019, at 69 years old. Authorities said they were not able to pinpoint a potential motive for the fatal attack, but Shabazz may have intended to steal from the hospital the night that it happened. "I think some of the things that we have to keep in mind is, every case is a person and a family. And what they experienced no one should have to experience," said Nader at the news conference, before going on to address Crandell's family directly. "So for that, our deepest condolences to you and admiration for the strength that you've shown over the past 27 years. And thank you for sticking with us to bring closure to this case."
