Howard County police detectives returned to the scene of the crime Thursday in a third floor condo where they discovered the body of 62-year old Martin Mullineaux on Tuesday.
According to charging documents, a trail of blood ran from the living room to the kitchen, and then down a hallway to the bedroom where they discovered the victim's body with more than 50 cuts and stab wounds.
"We do know from the autopsy that we're dealing with both stab wounds and blunt force trauma and there was quite a bit of evidence that a struggle had occurred and some blood in the residence as well,” said Sherry Llewellyn of the Howard County Police Department, “So this, right away, looked like it was probably someone who knew him, because it looked like it was a passionate type of crime that was committed."
Police have arrested 28-year old Joseph Loverde and have charged him with Mullineaux's death just six months after what court documents describe as "a disagreement concerning their sexual relationship" had brought police to the same location.
"It's our understanding that the two had a personal relationship and, in fact, we'd been called to that residence for a domestic case in the past, and we quickly were able to determine that he was a suspect in this case," said Llewellyn.
Detectives soon determined that the victim's vehicle was missing from the parking lot, and an extensive search of the condo turned up no car keys, wallet or cell phone.
It was only a matter of time until the homeless suspect popped up on their radar and on security cameras as he tried to cash in on his crime.
"We were able to locate video, surveillance video, from various retail establishments and also from him driving the victim's stolen car,” said Llewellyn, “So fortunately seeing him inside stores making purchases with the victim's credit cards allowed us to go out and make that arrest."
Loverde faces a series of charges including first-degree murder and he's being held at the Howard County Detention Center with no bond.
View the charging documents below:
