Vanessa Tjongarero-Henderson and Samantha Raebel are accused of beating a 67-year-old woman to death at a Maryland senior living center before fleeing hundreds of miles away, where they were apprehended after a stranger offered them shelter, authorities said.
Background
On May 26, Montgomery County Police officers responded to the Charter House, an affordable 55+ senior community in the 1300 block of Fenwick Lane in Silver Springs, Maryland, for a welfare check on a resident. Upon arrival, officers discovered Hilde Henderson dead. An autopsy later determined she died from blunt force trauma and the manner of death was homicide.
Investigators believe Henderson had been deceased for four days after being killed on May 22. Tjongarero-Henderson is Henderson's daughter, according to the Montgomery County Police Department.
Through their investigation, detectives identified Tjongarero-Henderson and her girlfriend, Raebel, as suspects. Authorities have not disclosed what evidence led them to the women or a suspected motive in the killing.
The department issued charges against both women and asked for the public's help locating them.
The Investigation
Days after issuing the alert, authorities tracked the fugitives approximately 450 miles away in Genoa, Ohio—a small village in the northwestern part of the state. Their capture stemmed from an unlikely chain of events involving a local woman determined to help people in need.
Adrienne Behrman told WTVG, the ABC and CW affiliate in Toledo, that Tjongarero-Henderson and Raebel came into her workplace claiming to be homeless. Moved by their situation, Behrman offered them shelter at her apartment and even reached out to her church for additional support.
"I've been down and out myself—homeless, without money… you know, just not wanting to be a charity case or anything like that, and I just felt like … I was led to help them," Behrman told the station.
But as she asked more questions about where they were from and where they wanted to go, something didn't add up. She consulted her friend, Nikki Peters, who had an uneasy feeling almost immediately.
"I instantly said, 'what if they're murderers,' cause I watch a lot of true crime, and everybody laughed at me," Peters told WTVG.
The breakthrough came when Peters noticed a Cash App payment request for cigarettes from an account that didn't match either name the women had given them. She searched online and found posts from authorities searching for Tjongarero-Henderson and Raebel.
"I almost passed out," Peters said.
Behrman called 911, confirming the women were wanted. Both were arrested and booked into the Ottawa County Detention Center. As of Thursday, they remained in custody awaiting extradition back to Maryland to face charges.
Key Takeaways
- Hilde Henderson, 67, was found dead at the Charter House senior living center in Silver Springs, Maryland on May 26; investigators believe she was killed four days earlier
- Her daughter, Vanessa Tjongarero-Henderson, 29, and her girlfriend, Samantha Raebel, 36, have been charged with first-degree murder
- The women fled to Genoa, Ohio—approximately 450 miles from the crime scene—where they were taken in by a good Samaritan
- A friend of the woman who sheltered them grew suspicious after noticing inconsistencies in their story and searched their names online, discovering the wanted persons alert
- Both suspects remain held at the Ottawa County Detention Center awaiting extradition to Maryland
What's Next
Tjongarero-Henderson and Raebel are expected to be extradited from Ohio back to Montgomery County, Maryland, where they will face formal court proceedings on the first-degree murder charges. No trial date has been set, and investigators have not disclosed a potential motive for Henderson's death. The case remains under active investigation by the Montgomery County Police Department.