On a June day in 1990, 15-year-old Alexander Eugene Sztanko, a male, left his Manassas, Virginia, home to go riding on his dirt bike. He was planning to meet up with friends in a wooded area of Prince William County known as 'the power lines,' a popular spot for local youths. Tragically, he never made it to his friends. His family reported him missing when he failed to return home. A daylong search involving 75 people was launched in the heavily wooded area. The search ended in heartbreak the following afternoon when a Spotsylvania County deputy sheriff discovered Alexander's body in a ravine. He was found shirtless and shoeless and had sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
The investigation quickly focused on Michael Carl George, a 32-year-old computer operator from Hartwood. George was found walking in the woods near where Alexander's body was discovered and was initially arrested for trespassing. A police officer had noticed George's Ford Bronco parked in the area being searched. During questioning, George was charged with murder. A search of George's vehicle and home uncovered a trove of incriminating evidence, including a 9mm pistol that was later determined to be the murder weapon, a stun gun, handcuffs, a machete, and a map with an 'X' marking the location of the body. An autopsy revealed that Alexander had been tortured with the stun gun on his thighs and scrotum before he was killed.
Michael Carl George's arrest brought to light a disturbing past. At the time of Alexander's murder, George was on parole after serving just over two years of a five-year sentence for the 1979 involuntary manslaughter of 8-year-old Larry W. Perry in the same wooded area. Perry's body was never found. Investigators also linked George to a series of abductions of teenage boys who described being kidnapped by a 'Rambo-like character' and tortured with stun guns.
Prosecutors in Prince William County sought the death penalty for George in the murder of Alexander Sztanko. He was tried and convicted of capital murder, abduction with intent to defile, and robbery. An inmate who was held with George testified that George had confessed to killing three people. In February 1991, a judge sentenced Michael Carl George to death. After his appeals were exhausted, George was executed by lethal injection on February 6, 1997. He made no final public statement but provided a written one to his minister.
