Shady Side Double Murders Tied To Drug Market: Prosecutor

SHADY SIDE, MD — A Shady Side man on trial for the murders of a man and a woman allegedly shot them because their argument disrupted an area where drug trafficking was common, an Anne Arundel County prosecutor said in court Wednesday. Kirk Byron Matthews, 57, of the 5900 block of Shady Side Road, has been charged with common law murder in the June 2017 shooting deaths of a local couple.

Authorities said Leslie Michael Smith, 48, and Linda Lynn McKenzie, 44, were killed when gunshots were reported in the area of Scott Town Road and Nick Road in Shady Side. The victims lived together on a boat on Rock Hold Creek in Deale, Anne Arundel County Police said. They were found lying in the area of Scott Town Road, suffering from gunshot wounds inflicted at close range, and they were pronounced dead at the scene.

Matthews was named as a suspect, police say, when investigators learned that he and the victims knew each other and had argued. In an opening statement, Assistant State’s Attorney Kelly Poma said Matthews killed Smith and McKenzie because they had disturbed the open-air drug market on Scott Town Road. The intoxicated couple argued because Smith was angry McKenzie had driven to the site; he then drove her car into a nearby ditch, Poma said, and they continued to argue.

The disruption provoked Matthews, who worked for drug dealers to pay off his debts, authorities allege.

“Twenty minutes later, the defendant [Matthew] had finally had enough,” Poma said in court, according to the Capital-Gazette. She said Matthews got his shotgun and “they honestly never stood a chance.”

Matthews’ attorney, Bethany Knopp said there is no physical evidence that directly links Matthews to the murders. Shotgun shells taken by police from his house were a different brand than those found at the scene, and a police surveillance camera in the area didn't capture the shooting, the newspaper reports.

She also cast doubt on witnesses who told police they saw a tall, skinny white man with light-colored hair carrying a shotgun on the street near the murder scene. Matthews is African-American.

Photo of Kirk Matthews, courtesy of Anne Arundel County Police