In 2017, two men were sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder and mutilation of their former roommate. in Maryland.

Christina Harnisch, also known as Christina Starlings, and William Rice were sentenced Friday to the maximum sentence for second-degree murder in the murder of Megan Tillman.

Parts of Tillman, a mother of two from Annapolis, washed up along the Shadyside coastline weeks after her. killed.

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In the fall of 2017, Rice and Harnish were roommates of Tillman and his elderly mother, relying on their financial support. Prosecutors say she disappeared after Tillman stopped offering her assistance.

Tillman’s family reported that she had stopped contacting them. Her ex-husband reported receiving suspicious text messages and seeing social media posts on her account that differed from normal communications.

By then, Rice and Harnish had fled to Arizona by bus, state attorney Ann Colt Wrightes said in a news release.

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The Baltimore Sun reported that public defense attorney Ann Stewart-Hill said Harnisch fell into a three-way relationship with Rice and Tillman after ending an abusive relationship. She moved in with her husband and Tillman’s sick mother.

Police and prosecutors said Harnisch and Rice manipulated Tillman, who is mentally disabled, into tricking his mother out of money.

Assistant state attorney Glenn Neubauer said Mr. Tillman paid for the bus tickets for Mr. Harnisch and Mr. Rice. to ArizonaThere they lived in a homeless camp for nearly four years. They were extradited to Maryland in February 2022 after being arrested by local officials in Pima County, Arizona.

Lawyers for both defendants said their fight with Tillman was fueled by alcohol and crack cocaine.