For nearly five decades, the family of Roseann Michelle Sturtz lived with the agonizing uncertainty of not knowing who was responsible for her death. A 20-year-old woman, known to her loved ones as "Ann," she was a victim of the serial killer Charles William Davis, though his identity as her killer would remain a secret for almost half a century, bringing a measure of closure to a case that had long gone cold.
On the evening of August 24, 1975, Roseann was last seen alive outside the Tic
Toc Club on Eutaw Street in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. A relative reported her missing later that same evening when she did not return. The search for Roseann ended in heartbreak several months later. On December 15, 1975, her body was discovered in a wooded area in Columbia, off Route 108, near what is now the Oakland Ridge Industrial Park. The remains were not immediately identifiable, but after a sketch of her likeness was published in a newspaper, former coworkers came forward, leading to her formal identification. An investigation revealed she had suffered trauma to her body that resulted in her death.
The case grew cold, one of Howard County's oldest unsolved homicides. Decades passed with no arrests and no new leads. The break the case needed finally came in 2022, when Corporal Wade Zufall of the Howard County Police Department took a fresh look at the files. Sifting through the old evidence, he made a crucial discovery: a 1981 audio recording of an interview detectives had conducted with an inmate named Charles William Davis Jr. Davis was already serving multiple life sentences for other murders committed in the same era. Along with the tape, Zufall found a letter from the then-Howard County State's Attorney offering Davis immunity from prosecution in the Sturtz case in exchange for information.
During that 1981 interview, Davis had provided details about the murder but was shown an old photograph of Roseann and could not positively identify her. The case stalled once more. In 2024, armed with this rediscovered evidence, Corporal Zufall arranged to interview the now-elderly Davis, who had been incarcerated at the Jessup Correctional Institution since 1978. This time, Zufall showed him a different, more recent photo of Roseann—a mugshot taken shortly before her death. Upon seeing this image, Davis recognized her, reportedly noting a scar on her face. He then confessed to being responsible for her death.
Davis recounted that he met Roseann at a bar on the night she disappeared. An argument between them escalated into a physical confrontation, and he ultimately strangled her. He said his reason for confessing after all these years was to finally give her family a sense of closure. Charles William Davis, a serial killer known as "Charlie," was responsible for at least four murders between 1974 and 1977, using methods that included strangulation, shooting, and stabbing. For his other crimes, he had been convicted on three counts of first-degree murder and use of a handgun, receiving three life sentences plus 45 years. Due to the 1981 immunity agreement, which was reaffirmed by the current State's Attorney, Davis cannot be charged for Roseann's murder. He will, however, remain in prison for the rest of his life for his other convictions.
The solution of the case, nearly 50 years after Roseann’s death, finally provided the answers her family had been praying for. Though none of her relatives attended the police news conference, they released a statement expressing their gratitude. "In November 2024, we were grateful to have all the case details, learned Roseann's actual date of death and receive the closure we have been praying for all these years -- finally put to rest the answers we never had," the family said. They extended their heartfelt thanks to the Howard County Police Department and Corporal Zufall for their diligent work. "The sympathy, kindness, respect, and warmth that was shown to us over these past few months will be forever in our hearts." For police, closing the county's second-oldest cold case was a testament to their persistence. As Corporal Zufall told Roseann's surviving sisters, "If there's such thing as closure, I hope I was able to provide them with that."
