Photo: WUSA9/Youtube
Police in Washington, D.C., have arrested a 66-year-old ex-con, charging him in the killing of 71-year-old Sylvia Matthews — the woman whom authorities allege he stalked for over two decades.
A statement from the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia confirms Michael Garrett was arrested Friday and charged with assault with intent to kill.
Prosecutors are working with police to present additional charges against Garrett, who was arrested just before 11:30 a.m.
Officers responding to an active robbery call Friday arrived to find Garrett in Matthews' home, it is said in the statement.
Initially, Garrett allegedly told officers he was there to check on Matthews, and that she was unconscious on the floor when he walked in.
Matthews was rushed to the hospital with severe physical trauma. She was pronounced dead soon after arriving at the emergency room.
He had been imprisoned since 1999, when he was convicted of assaulting Matthews inside her home in 1998.
WUSA reportsthat Garrett and Matthews met while she was working in the pharmacy at the Lorton Correctional Complex in Virginia; he was an inmate.
After his release in 1998, he allegedly stalked and attacked Matthews.
A judge freed him in March, as COVID-19 spread across the prison where Garrett was an inmate.
According to WUSA, Metro DC Police had arrested Garrett on Oct. 7, charging him with threatening Matthews after showing up at her front door. Then, on Oct. 22, Garrett allegedly beat Matthews outside her home.
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In both cases, prosecutors declined the case, providing no specific reason for their decision, according to WUSA.
“He should not have been on the street,” a relative told the station. “The system failed us.”
source: people.com
