Mother's Rape, Homicide Cold Case Suspect From HoCo Enters Alford Plea After 40 Years

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — A 64-year-old Laurel man has entered an Alford plea to a charge of second-degree murder in a kidnaping case that dates back to the early 1980s.

On March 29, 1982, Laney Lee McGadney, 28, left her apartment in Columbia to walk to a grocery store in the Owen Brown Village Center. Witnesses described seeing McGadney being abducted as she walked along Oakland Mills Road. Her body was discovered hours later in a vacant lot, now known as Water Lily Way. McGadney, according to the Howard County Police Department.

A mother of four children, McGadney had been raped and stabbed to death.

At the time of the incident, police collected evidence from the scene and conducted a lengthy investigation but were unable to identify the person who committed the crime. Since then, cold case investigators from the Howard County Police Department have revisited the evidence to try and identify any new leads. In early 2021, DNA results performed on items discarded at the scene linked Howard Jackson Bradberry of Montgomery Street to the crime, according to the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office.

On May 25, 2021, Bradberry was arrested at his home and charged with first- and second-degree
murder, first- and second-degree rape, and kidnapping.

“I’d like to thank the cold case investigators from Howard County Police, the crime lab and our
prosecutors for the tremendous work they did on this case,” State’s Attorney Rich Gibson said. “For four decades, no one was held responsible for the brutal and senseless killing of a young woman whose life was cut short by the violent actions of the defendant. We hope that today’s guilty plea provides some closure to the McGadney family who has had to wait an inordinate amount of time for justice for their loved one.”

Bradberry will be sentenced Dec. 1. He could face up to 25 years of active incarceration.