Charges Filed In Murder Of Edgewater High School Senior: Report

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — A little more than a month after the body of Danielle Gunson was found, charges have been filed in her murder. Gunson, 18, was reportedly a student at South River High School.

She was reported missing Sept. 27 in Anne Arundel County. Police said her body was found the following day in Baltimore City, and homicide detectives have been jointly investigating her death ever since.

Police announced there had been an arrest in the case on Tuesday, Oct. 30.

Liam Cameron Penn, 25, of Woodstock, has been charged with seven crimes:

• First-degree murder
• Attempted first-degree murder
• Second-degree murder
• Attempted second-degree murder
• First-degree assault
• Second-degree assault
• Using a firearm in a felony crime

Officials said Penn was taken into custody at 2:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 30, the day after police got a warrant for his arrest.

The Baltimore and Howard County police departments assisted the Anne Arundel County Police Department in serving the warrant overnight in the 2600 block of Bunker Hill Road; Penn lives in the 2600 block of Bunker Hill, an address in Baltimore County, near the Howard County border.

Penn is being held without bail.

According to court records, he was on probation for possession with intent to distribute drugs last year. He was given a five-year sentence in February — with all suspended except three years of probation — in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.

Here is the chronology of events leading up to the murder and attempted murder charges:

Wednesday, Sept. 26: Gunson's mother said there was a Snapchat video on her daughter's social media showing her with Terence John Caruso Jr., according to Fox 45. The teen's mother told the news station that she had asked Caruso "for the past couple of years" not to pick up or text her daughter, who was a senior at South River High School in Edgewater. Caruso, 23, lives in Crofton, and was charged with drug and paraphernalia offenses in 2015 and 2017, but neither case was prosecuted, according to court records.

Thursday, Sept. 27: Police said that Caruso and Gunson were with Penn during the early morning hours when Penn pulled off the road in the area of Saint Stephens Church Road and Johns Hopkins Road and shot them. Investigators allege he left Caruso and drove Gunson’s body to Brooklyn.

Caruso was found shot in the area of Johns Hopkins Road in Gambrills at 12:45 p.m., according to police. He was taken to a local hospital and is expected to survive, authorities said.

Gunson was reported missing at 8:39 p.m. The Anne Arundel County Police Department handled the missing persons case and said officials developed information that she was possibly in the Crofton area. She was murdered on Sept. 27, according to court records.

Friday, Sept. 28: Police said Gunson's body was found in the 100 block of Riverside Road in Brooklyn at 9:21 a.m. She suffered trauma to her torso and appeared to have been the victim of a homicide, said officials.

"As the investigation continued over the next few weeks, Anne Arundel County Homicide detectives were able to link the murder of Danielle Gunson to the attempted murder of Terence John Caruso Jr.," the Anne Arundel County Police Department said in a statement on Tuesday, Oct. 30.

"This investigation is very fluid and active but the information developed indicates this was a targeted attack and not a random act of violence," police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Anne Arundel County Police Tip Line 410-222-4700 or Metro Crime Stoppers.

Photo of Danielle Gunson courtesy of Patch partner GoFundMe. Photo of Liam Cameron Penn courtesy of the Anne Arundel County Police Department. Photo of Riverside Road in Brooklyn on Sunday, Sept. 30, by Elizabeth Janney.

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