Two victims found dead in a New Market home Sunday were identified as Crimea Baker, 33, and Sean Lange, 34, Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon, in what he called a “rage crime of passion killing.”
“This was really a heinous, targeted double murder, a crime of rage and anger,” Jenkins said. “This is the type of crime that shocks the conscience of everyone in Frederick County.”
Four children under the age of 13 were also found unharmed in the home, Jenkins said.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to a residence at the 7000 block of Mandalong Court around 7 a.m. Sunday for the report of a shooting, Jenkins said. The bodies of Baker and Lange were found shot multiple times in bed upstairs. A preliminary investigation found that the victims were shot around 1:30 a.m., according to Jenkins.
Based on conversations with the children, Jenkins said they hid in the house until they felt safe to figure out what happened later in the morning. One child found the victims, Jenkins said, adding: “I can only say that their life is just destroyed. It’s upside down right now.”
Baker, of New Market, was the mother to all four children. Lange, of Arlington, Virginia, was the father of one. Detectives believe the two were living together at the time. Social services and the Child Advocacy Center were involved in interviews with the children and would continue to be in contact with them and the family, Jenkins said.
The sheriff’s office recovered 42 40-caliber shell casings in the bedroom that were fired at close range. He declined to say whether there were signs of a break-in.
A suspect has not yet been identified, but Jenkins said, “We’re leading to believe that they were known to the killer and they were targeted.” Due to the type of killings, police said there is no threat to the public.
The sheriff’s office is investigating the incident as a double murder and working with other local law enforcement agencies.
“We have every available investigator, every agency resource we’re going to put into this until the person or persons responsible are identified, arrested and brought to justice,” Jenkins said.