MARYLAND, USA — A 28-year-old woman from Melbourne, Florida is facing murder charges after leaving her then-girlfriend on the side of Baltimore-Washington Parkway (BW Parkway) back in November 2021. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.
On the morning of November 24, 2021, a 26-year-old woman was struck and killed along Baltimore-Washington Parkway, according to U.S. Park Police.
According to court documents obtained by WUSA9, later on Nov. 24 at around 10 a.m. Janice Martina Mason contacted United States Park Police (USPP) and said that her phone had been "thrown out of her vehicle on the BW Parkway and She tracked the phone to USPP Criminal Investigations".
Almost two hours later Mason responded to the USPP criminal investigations location for an interview. She was able to tell the officers that a phone found near the victim's body on the highway was hers. Mason was able to identify the victim as her girlfriend of two months, court documents said.
She told officers that during the drive she and the victim got into a physical fight. She claimed she left and later went back to the area but could not find the victim or her phone.
USPP Detectives continued their death investigation. During that investigation, they noticed several inconsistencies with Mason's statement. That Friday the detectives with USPP found and recovered a vehicle that appeared to show damage that could have been from striking a person, the court documents stated.
On Nov. 26 at around 8 p.m. Janice Mason went back to USPP Criminal Investigations for an interview.
During that interview, Mason admitted that the victim began assaulting her while she was driving. Mason said that she pulled over onto the right shoulder.
"I was like, you done hit the wrong b****"," Mason allegedly said. The two reportedly continued to fight on the side of the road.
While Mason was still in her car, her girlfriend at the time left and began to, as Mason claims, smashed her phone. She told investigators she noticed the victim pick up an object that could have been either a brick or a rock, according to court documents.
Mason noticed that the victim was coming back to her car, and Mason said to the detectives "And that's when I hit her cause she was coining back towards the car.''
Mason told investigators she thought her life was in jeopardy.
She also admitted the vehicle USPP recovered and found, was the vehicle she was driving at the time of the crash. In the court documents, Mason said she did not call 911 after hitting the victim and drove to her mother’s house in D.C.
Mason was arrested and held on a federal detainer. and is currently being held at Prince George's County Department of Corrections, Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
An 18-year-old Roanoke high school student was killed, and 4 others were hurt, including a Virginia Tech student who is recovering from surgery.