A Pennsylvania man has been charged with first-degree murder after his girlfriend’s body was found in the woods near the 15500 block of Ensor Mill Road in Sparks, Maryland.
Michael Anthony Morant, 48, is charged in the murder of Rebekah Jea Strausbaugh, 30.
Police said that an autopsy indicated that Strausbaugh was strangled.
The case originally started in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, after York Area Regional Township Police responded to a call for a missing person Sunday afternoon.
The caller told police he had not seen Strausbaugh since June 24. A police investigation led officers to Morant’s home. On June 25, police said, Morant went to Baltimore to look for Strausbaugh. He located her at the Shake Shack on Pratt Street.
They got in Morant’s car and drove on I-83 northbound, and police said they began to argue in the car. The continued arguing and got out of the car around the area of Ensor Mill Road and Belfast Road.
Police said the argument turned physical, resulting in injuries that left Strasubaugh unresponsive. When she did not respond to Morant, police said, he drug her body into the woods and covered her with a blanket.
Morant is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center without bail.
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