In the quiet, affluent community of Potomac, Maryland, a tragic series of events unfolded on Tuesday, September 30, 2014, culminating in the death of 57-year-old Carolyn Mattingly. The day began with a seemingly minor act of vandalism. Mattingly contacted the Montgomery County Police to report that the tires on her vehicle had been slashed at her home on Great Elm Drive.
Little did she know, this was a prelude to a far more sinister act.
Later that afternoon, a fire was reported at the Mattingly residence. Fire and Rescue personnel, upon extinguishing a small blaze in the garage, made a grim discovery: the body of Carolyn Mattingly. An autopsy would later reveal that she had been fatally shot before the fire was set, and the medical examiner officially ruled her death a homicide. The fire was likely an attempt to conceal the crime.
The investigation into her murder quickly identified a suspect: 42-year-old Andrew Racca of Chevy Chase. The motive appeared to be rooted in a workplace dispute. Racca was an employee of the Bethesda-based Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, where Carolyn's husband, C. Richard Mattingly, was a high-ranking executive. Racca had recently been accused of theft at the foundation, and management had informed him that the matter would be reported to the police. It is believed that Racca went to the Mattingly home to confront C. Richard Mattingly, but he was not there. Instead, he encountered Carolyn, with whom he had no known prior association, and killed her.
Shortly after the murder, Racca was found deceased in his Mercedes-Benz, which had crashed into a tree not far from the Mattingly's home. A handgun was recovered from his vehicle, and his death was ruled a suicide from a gunshot wound. Ballistic testing was pending to determine if the same weapon was used in both the homicide and the suicide. The tragic event was ultimately classified as a murder-suicide, leaving a community in shock and a family to mourn the senseless loss of a beloved wife, mother, and active community member.
