Teen Gang Member Arrested In Autistic Aberdeen Woman's Death: Police

ABERDEEN, MD — A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in connection to the July 2022 murder of 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton.

Hamilton, who was autistic, had recently moved to Aberdeen with her 22-year-old boyfriend. Aberdeen police officers were called to Hamilton's mobile home July 27, 2022, at little after 5 p.m. for a call of cardiac arrest. Hamilton’s death was determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to be a homicide by strangulation.

Early in the investigation, a 17-year-old undocumented non-citizen from El Salvador became a person of interest, according to the Aberdeen Police Department.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that the teen also was listed in El Salvador as a member of Malva Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13). The suspect’s DNA was compared to evidence recovered at the crime scene by the Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division, which led to an arrest warrant issued Jan. 14 for the teen charging first degree murder. The suspect was apprehended in Edgewood during the early morning hours of Jan. 15.

Hamilton’s mother, Tammy Nobles of Norfolk, Virginia, told WMAR2News, “It’s been for me, many sleepless nights. My… I never thought I would take this journey on losing my daughter in such a horrific way and so soon. When I found out that it was a juvenile, I was shocked. I was like, ‘A juvenile did this to her?’ Like I was really shocked. I could not believe a teenager could do this.”