Suspect in Stabbing Believed Victim Practiced Witchcraft: Police

The roommate of a woman stabbed to death in North Bethesda believed the victim had practiced witchcraft, prompting the fatal attack with a butcher knife and scissors, authorities say.

Montgomery County Police on Wednesday charged Rita Narcissa Sanders-Campfield, 53, with first-degree murder in the death of Chung Park, 67. The women were roommates, police say, and Sanders-Campfield was at the residence when police arrived.

A call about 10:11 a.m. Tuesday to Montgomery County Police reported a death in an apartment in the 11800 block of Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda. Police said Park was stabbed in her torso.

The Washington Post is quoting charging documents that say Sanders-Campfield had recently spoken to two people about religion and how she sought to be “perfected.”

Police say that Park was found dead with a butcher knife in her back.

The investigation began when apartment managers received a call from Park’s daughter, who had not heard from her mother and had been unable to reach her since Nov. 29. When an employee went to Park’s apartment to check on her, she found Park’s body and called police.

Officers at the scene found the victim on her bedroom floor with multiple stab wounds in the back by a large butcher knife. Sanders-Campfield was found in her own bed with what appeared to be bite marks on her right arm, police say.

A pair of scissors with blood on them was reportedly found on Sanders-Campfield’s bed. Detectives say Sanders-Campfield’s journal, found next to her bed, had an entry that said Park was “evil” and practiced “witchcraft.”

Related story:

Woman Stabbed to Death in Bethesda Apartment

See also:

Women Charged in Exorcism Killings of Children Likely to Use Insanity Defense

» Rita Sanders-Campfield has been charged with murder. PHOTO: Montgomery County Police