In the late summer of 2015, a chilling discovery was made in a quiet Severn, Maryland townhouse. Karlyn Serane Ramirez, a 24-year-old female U.S. Army soldier stationed at Fort Meade, was found dead on August 25th, having been shot multiple times. Cradled in her lifeless arms was her unharmed five-month-old infant daughter. The scene was disturbing, with Ramirez's clothing arranged to suggest a sexual assault, a deliberate deception to mislead investigators.
Suspicion did not immediately
fall on her estranged husband, Army Sergeant Maliek Kearney, who was stationed at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, hundreds of miles away. Investigators initially interviewed Kearney, who maintained his innocence and even attended his wife's funeral, remarking ominously to her mother that the killer could be among them. However, the investigation eventually uncovered a meticulously planned plot born from a troubled marriage and a desire to avoid a contentious custody battle over their young daughter.
The sinister truth was that Kearney had orchestrated the entire event with the help of his girlfriend, Dolores Delgado. On the night of August 24, 2015, Kearney drove Delgado's car from South Carolina to Maryland. To avoid detection, he used gas cans provided by Delgado so he wouldn't have to stop for fuel. While he was gone, Delgado stayed in his apartment with his car and phone to create a seemingly airtight alibi. Kearney entered his wife's home, shot her three times, staged the scene, and placed their baby in her arms before driving back to South Carolina to be on duty the next morning.
The elaborate alibi eventually unraveled. In October 2016, both Maliek Kearney and Dolores Delgado were arrested and indicted by a federal grand jury for crossing state lines to commit domestic violence resulting in death. Delgado pleaded guilty to her role in the murder, admitting to providing the murder weapon, her car, and helping to create the alibi. She also confessed to disposing of the gun and other evidence in a Florida waterway after the crime. In August 2018, a federal jury convicted Maliek Kearney of the murder. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. For her cooperation and role in the conspiracy, Dolores Delgado was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
