In December of 2022, the family of James Volodimir Nalborczyk grew concerned. They had not seen or heard from the 50-year-old male from Great Mills, Maryland, since December 7th. After two weeks with no contact, they reported him missing to the Maryland State Police on December 21, 2022. When police began to investigate his disappearance, they spoke with his girlfriend, Michelina Desiree Goodwin, who claimed she and Nalborczyk had been planning to break up and that he had left for a job in
Virginia in a company vehicle. However, as the investigation deepened, it became apparent that foul play was involved.
The missing person case turned into a homicide investigation, with Goodwin identified as the primary suspect. On January 18, 2023, Goodwin admitted to investigators that Nalborczyk was dead. She claimed that during an argument at her residence on December 11, 2022, she pointed a gun at him, and it accidentally discharged, striking him in the back and killing him. What followed was a gruesome attempt to cover up the crime. Goodwin enlisted the help of a friend, Larry Joseph Murphy, to dispose of the body. She confessed to dismembering Nalborczyk's remains and led investigators to the remote locations in St. Mary's and Charles Counties where she had scattered them.
In mid-January 2023, police arrested both Michelina Goodwin, then 45, and Larry Murphy, then 40. Goodwin was charged with first and second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime, and improper disposal of a human body. Murphy was charged with first and second-degree murder and accessory after the fact. Following an eight-day trial in March 2024, a jury found Goodwin guilty of second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and unauthorized disposal of a body. In August 2024, she was sentenced to 61 years in prison, the maximum sentence possible. Larry Murphy was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact and was sentenced to one year in jail.
