In the quiet community of Hampstead, Maryland, the discovery of a body in a wooded area shattered the tranquility of a late June morning. On June 27, 2014, the remains of 50-year-old Prakash Rampatsingh of Hanover, Pennsylvania, were found by a crew working on a cellphone tower along a dirt road off of Falls Road. An investigation by the Maryland State Police quickly determined that Rampatsingh had been the victim of a homicide, having died from a gunshot wound.
Originally from Couva,
Trinidad, Rampatsingh was a landlord for a property management company in Baltimore. Investigators learned that he had gone to one of his rental properties in Baltimore on or around June 24, 2014, three days before his body was discovered. It was there, police believe, that a confrontation occurred with his tenant. Authorities allege that following this dispute, Rampatsingh was abducted in his own Dodge truck, driven to Carroll County, and fatally shot. His truck was later found abandoned in Prince George's County. At the time of his death, he was married, though estranged from his wife, and was a father to teenage children.
For years, the case remained under investigation. Then, in December 2021, a break in the case led to the indictment and arrest of 38-year-old Charity Sophia Goodwin in Mecklenberg County, North Carolina. Goodwin, who had been Rampatsingh's tenant at the time of his death, was charged with a multitude of offenses, including first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, and motor vehicle theft. Following her arrest, she was held in North Carolina awaiting extradition to Maryland to face the charges.
