Jaime Malarkey and Luke Broadwater, The Examiner
2008-05-15 14:59:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

A teenage boy was charged with murder Wednesday after police said he bludgeoned his mother to death and beat his father with a baseball bat in the family’s Towson home.

Lewin C. Powell III, 16, is accused of the murder of his mother, Donna Rosemarie Campbell-Powell, 39, and the attempted murder of his father, also named Lewin Powell, who was hospitalized after the beating.

The 5- foot-10, 170-pound teen is held without bond at the Baltimore County Detention Center.

Neighbors said detectives led a handcuffed Powell, a sophomore at McDonogh School in Owings Mills, from the home on the 1600 block of Alston Road in Towson’s Riderwood community.

One source said he made a brief statement to police.

“He was angry,” the police source said. “Something in him just snapped. He was just pissed off at them.”

The younger Powell and his mother got into an argument Tuesday afternoon about his performance school, Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey said. The argument escalated, Powell got a baseball bat and "beat his mother repeatedly until she was dead," Toohey said.

Powell hid his mother's body in the garage, Toohey said. Powell's father, who works a night shift, came home around midnight and fell asleep on a sofa, unaware of the violence that had occurred, the spokesman said.

The elder Powell woke up Wednesday morning when his son started beating him about head with a baseball bat, Toohey said. During the struggle that ensued, the younger Powell admitted to killing his mother, the spokesman said. The elder Powell was able to talk the youth out of killing him, according to police.

By this time, police and Campbell-Powell's co-workers were at the front door of the family’s brick split-level home in the quiet, middle-class neighborhood. The co-workers from the Baltimore County Office of Budget and Finance became concerned after she did not show up for work Wednesday morning, Toohey said. When they couldn’t get inside, they summoned police.

The elder Powell was "bleeding from significant wounds to the head," according to Toohey. Powell told police, "Thank God you're here; my son killed my wife," Toohey said.

The elder Powell was taken to Sinai Hospital; the younger Powell was taken to police headquarters and questioned.

Detectives on the scene Wednesday afternoon inspected a red fleece jacket, a pair of black skateboarding sneakers and coins in the front lawn of the home. Inside, the house was filled with blood spatter, a source said.

Maura Manley, who lives across the street, described the family as “normal.”

“What’s really sad is they were a nice family,” Manley said. “So whatever happened, it must have been an act of passion.”

Neighbor Dorothea Horsey peered from her window as forensics teams arrived. She said police presence is unusual for the neighborhood.

“It’s such a quiet neighborhood,” she said.

The homicide is Baltimore County’s second since February involving a teenage boy who allegedly killed a parent.

Baltimore County police charged 16-year-old Nicholas Browning, an honor student at Dulaney High School, on Feb. 3 with shooting his parents and two younger brothers to death in their Cockeysville home.

“What the hell is happening with all their rage?” Manley asked. “The young people don’t scream anymore. They just murder.”

One McDonogh student described Powell as a good student.

“We’re working closely with police,” said Lynn McKain, a school spokeswoman. “We are as shocked and surprised as everybody else.”

jmalarkey@baltimoreexaminer.com

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminere.com

The Associated Press contributed to this article.