ANNAPOLIS — A serial killer charged with murdering two women and a 14-year-old girl between 1986 and 1994 pleaded guilty yesterday, three days after he met with the victims’ relatives to answer questions about the killings as stipulated in the plea deal.
Alexander Wayne Watson Jr., 38, was indicted in 2004 after cold-case detectives linked him to the crimes with DNA evidence. He already was serving a life sentence for murdering a woman in 1994.
Authorities were planning to seek the death penalty against Watson, but family members of the victims approached prosecutors about a month ago to see if a plea deal could be worked out, ensuring that he pleaded guilty to all three slayings.
Jennifer Scott, the daughter of victim Elaine Shereika, said the families decided to seek a plea deal after learning authorities might not be able to get convictions in all three cases if they went to trial.
“Had we followed the path that perhaps might have brought more meaningful vengeance and continued to seek the death penalty, it is not entirely certain that Mr. Watson would have ever had to admit his guilt for all the crimes that he has committed,” Mrs. Scott said after a court hearing.
Watson raped and killed Boontem Anderson, 34, at her Gambrills, Md., home in 1986. He raped and murdered Mrs. Shereika, 37, in 1988 while she was on a jog. He murdered Lisa Kathleen Haenel, 14, in a stabbing in 1993, and her body was found behind her school. The three victims were also strangled. Watson lived in the same Anne Arundel County neighborhoods as his victims and kept track of their movements, according to investigators.
Watson was only eligible for the death penalty for killing Mrs. Shereika. He was 17 when he murdered Mrs. Anderson, and there were no aggravating circumstances, such as a rape or robbery, that would have allowed prosecutors to seek the death penalty in Lisa’s death.
Mrs. Scott said family members met with Watson most of Monday, ending with a group session. She described him as cold and calculated, and she didn’t think he was being entirely truthful. When asked why he committed the crimes, Mrs. Scott said he replied that his actions were related to drug use.
“There was no emotion,” Mrs. Scott said. “Nothing anyone said or did seemed to get through to him. He’s cold. There’s no heart there.”
Mrs. Scott’s brother, Dan Shereika Jr., wrote in a statement that was read to Anne Arundel Circuit Court Judge Joseph Mancks, that Watson responded to questions with “blank eyes and gave pat answers to our questions.”
“He stated with no feeling that he was getting high in the park when my mother ran by and thought, ’I got away with it before, so figured I could get away with it again,’ ” Mr. Shereika wrote.
Under the plea agreement, Watson received life in prison without possibility of parole. He was already serving a life sentence for the 1994 killing of Debra Cobb in Prince George’s County. Watson declined to give a statement in court.
“I think you are an evil man. I think you are a dangerous man,” Judge Mancks said before making the sentence official, adding that there was some consolation that he would never get out of prison.
The long delay in obtaining and carrying out a death penalty case also played a role in the decision to seek a plea deal, said Mrs. Scott, who is 36. “If we had decided to pursue the death penalty, how old would I be, when and if Mr. Watson was executed? Forty-six? Fifty-six? Older?”
She urged state officials to streamline death penalty cases. Mrs. Scott also called on state officials to increase funding for DNA testing and expand sample collections to include more criminals. She pointed out that Watson had already been in prison for 10 years before authorities notified county officials they had found a positive match between Watson and the three victims.
“That is an extra 10 years our families waited without answers because Maryland is not on the top of getting these people into the DNA system,” Mrs. Scott said.
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