In the quiet farming community of Sharpsburg, Maryland, the life of 51-year-old Jack Michael Rowland, a male who had spent his years tending to the family farm, came to a tragic and violent end on Wednesday, May 2, 2018. Concerns were raised when Jack, a man known for his dedication to the farm's hogs and beef cattle, missed a planned meeting and the daily chores of tending to the livestock were left undone.
A family friend, arriving to pick up hay, found the property eerily quiet and noticed the family's truck was missing. This unsettling discovery prompted a check of the residence.
Inside the home on Shepherdstown Pike, a grim scene awaited. Jack Rowland and his mother, Evelyn Rowland, were found deceased. Both appeared to have sustained fatal gunshot wounds. The initial investigation by the Washington County Sheriff's Office pointed towards a double homicide, shattering the peace of the rural area. The rear door of the house had been forced open, and a single-shot shotgun was discovered to be missing from a gun cabinet within the home. Jack's GMC pickup truck was also gone.
The investigation quickly focused on a familiar face within the family circle. Darren Scott Warner, Evelyn Rowland's 24-year-old grandson, who had previously lived at the home for four years, became a person of interest. It was revealed that Warner had been caught stealing from the farm and other family members in the past, creating a motive for the heinous crime. Law enforcement located Warner and his 20-year-old companion, Destiny Oyler, and a perimeter was established around their location. The Washington County Special Response Team was dispatched and took both suspects into custody without incident.
Subsequent searches of the suspects' residence uncovered crucial evidence linking them to the crime. The keys to Jack Rowland's stolen pickup truck were found, along with items bearing dark stains consistent with blood splatter. Darren Scott Warner and Destiny Oyler were arrested and faced a litany of charges for their alleged roles in the double murder. These charges included two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft. Both were held without bond at the Washington County Detention Center as the community mourned the loss of a lifelong farmer and his mother.
