Police sources suspect boy attacked teacher in juvenile facility, moved body

The teacher slain at a state-run juvenile detention facility in Prince George's County appears to have been attacked in a stairwell of a campus building, her body then dumped just outside a door, sources familiar with the investigation said.

Investigators have recovered a bloody shirt belonging to the 13-year-old suspect and obtained a statement from him, law enforcement sources said. One law enforcement source said the boy told police that there was also someone else at the scene with him, but investigators determined that he was lying. Law enforcement sources have said the boy was physically large enough to have carried out the attack and move the body on his own.

The boy has not been charged in the slaying of Hannah Wheeling, a 65-year-old Bel Air resident and teacher of general studies at the Cheltenham Youth Facility, police have said. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed.

Wheeling's partially clothed body was found by another Cheltenham employee Feb. 18, and Wheeling appeared to have been beaten to death and sexually assaulted, law enforcement sources have said.

The boy, who had been in custody on burglary charges, has been moved to another facility while the investigation continues, law enforcement sources said. He had been housed at Cheltenham's Murphy Cottage, a building that sits outside the facility's fence and is meant for youths determined not dangerous to themselves or others. Wheeling taught at that cottage, and her body was found just outside it.

In an interview Tuesday night, Prince George's State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey said prosecutors were moving deliberately in bringing charges because juvenile court proceedings are expedited compared with those in Circuit Court. In adult cases, prosecutors generally have 180 days to try a suspect after he makes his first appearance in court. In juvenile cases, prosecutors have 60 days to hold an adjudicatory hearing, the juvenile equivalent of a trial, after the suspect is formally charged. If a juvenile judge waived the case to adult court, however, the rules of the adult court would apply.

"I think the police have done a great job in their investigation, but I think there's still a few more pieces to put together, and we want to make sure we have as much in place as possible before we move forward," Ivey said.

Despite the lack of charges in the case, pressure is mounting on the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, which runs Cheltenham, to provide answers about how security could have broken down so seriously.

On Tuesday, State Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George's) said he asked the senate's Judicial Proceedings Committee to request Juvenile Services Secretary Donald W. DeVore to testify about the incident. Muse said officials at Cheltenham have blocked independent state monitors from entering the facility since the slaying, and DeVore has not provided basic information about the case.

"You don't just duck in a situation like this. You deal with it," Muse said. "We're not asking for evidence. We're asking, 'How did this happen? If, in fact, you determine that this boy really committed this act, how did this happen?' "

Jay Cleary, a spokesman for the Department of Juvenile Services, confirmed that a monitor from the state's Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit had been denied access to Cheltenham, but he said that was done temporarily because of the ongoing investigation by the Maryland State Police. That probe, he said, also prohibits Department of Juvenile Services officials from discussing the case.

"We are limited in what we can discuss because of the ongoing criminal investigation," he said.

State Police have said autopsy results showed that Wheeling died from multiple blunt force trauma injuries, and their preliminary investigation showed she never left the facility after coming to work on the morning of Feb. 17. But they have declined to provide any information about suspects or details about the killing.

"It's an active investigation, and because it is a criminal case, we can't release any information regarding the incident . . . until the investigation is completed," said Elena Russo, a State Police spokeswoman.