In what was a tragic end to a tumultuous relationship, 25-year-old Elizabeth Leigh Thorpe was killed in a murder-suicide on March 18, 2014. The female victim's life was cut short by her 67-year-old boyfriend, Charles Benton White, in the home they shared in the Orchard Point area of Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
The events of that fateful Tuesday afternoon began with a heated argument between the couple.
The verbal altercation escalated tragically when White armed himself with a long gun and shot Thorpe. A witness present at the scene made a valiant attempt to intervene and disarm White but was unsuccessful. Following the initial shooting, police were dispatched to the residence on High Point Road at approximately 2:19 p.m. after receiving reports of a shooting.
Upon their arrival, officers were informed that a woman had been shot and that the armed assailant remained inside the house. A brief and tense standoff ensued as police established a perimeter and attempted to make contact with White. Officers saw him inside but he refused to come out. Shortly after, a single gunshot was heard from within the home. The Anne Arundel County Police Special Operations Section then made entry into the residence.
Inside, they discovered a grim scene. Elizabeth Leigh Thorpe was found at the bottom of the basement steps with a gunshot wound to her upper body. Charles Benton White was located in a room near the front door, also deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his upper body. Emergency fire personnel pronounced both individuals dead at the scene. Another adult and a child who were also in the house at the time of the initial altercation managed to escape unharmed. Investigators ruled the incident a domestic-related homicide and suicide.
Elizabeth Leigh Thorpe was a cherished daughter and a loving mother to her two children, a son and a daughter. Her death left her family and friends to grapple with the sudden and violent loss of a young woman's life.
