Husband, His Girlfriend Charged In Fort Meade Mom's Murder (Update)

UPDATED at 1 p.m. Monday FORT MEADE, MD — A federal grand jury has indicted the husband of Fort Meade mother and soldier Karlyn Serane Ramirez, along with her husband's girlfriend, for her August 15, 2015, murder. Ramirez, 24, was found shot to death in her Severn home Aug. 25, 2015, with her 5-month-old daughter, Kattaleya Vale Kearney, unharmed beside her.

Her husband, Maliek Kearney, a master sergeant in the Army, answered questions from detectives following his wife’s death. He was stationed at Fort Jackson, SC, when his wife died, and Kearney was reportedly on duty in South Carolina at the time his wife was killed, police said.

Federal prosecutors allege that Kearney, 35, and his girlfriend, Dolores Delgado, 31, both of San Antonio, TX, drove to Severn to kill Ramirez. The couple were indicted Tuesday by a Maryland grand jury for interstate travel to commit domestic violence resulting in death; the indictment was unsealed after he defendants were arrested Thursday in San Antonio on Thursday.

Local authorities declined to discuss what led investigators to consider Kearney a suspect in his wife's death.

"I want to say how proud I am of the investigators on this case. Every one of them, from Anne Arundel to the Federal government LIVED their obligation to be PFC Ramirez' and her family's final advocates," said Anne Arundel County Police Chief Timothy Altomare in a statement to Patch. "I greatly appreciate the thousands of hours of hard work that went into solving this case."

According to the federal indictment, on Aug. 24, 2016, Kearney and Delgado drove from South Carolina to Maryland with the intent to fatally shoot Ramirez. Both defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison. The defendants each had an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in San Antonio and both were ordered to be detained pending detention hearings.

“The indictment alleges that Maliek Kearney and Dolores Delgado conspired to murder Karlyn Ramirez, a U.S. Army private first class based at Fort Meade, Maryland,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein in a news release. “I am grateful to the police and prosecutors who have been working tirelessly to pursue justice in this case.”

Kearney, a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist, enlisted in 2000 and has spent time both in the regular Army and Pennsylvania National Guard, according to the Army Times. He has maintained he is innocent in his wife's death.

Anne Arundel County Police held a news conference in March to plead for tips in Ramirez's death.

“A young lady who was in the prime of her life, who was service driven, serving her country, had her life stolen from her in her own home,” said Altomare in the spring.

Officers found Ramirez’ body after maintenance workers reported the door to her home open in the 8000 block of Millstone Court, which seemed suspicious, and called police. Ramirez died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Police Sgt. John Poole said Ramirez was murdered the night before her body was found. There was no sign of forced entry to her home or robbery.

Police don’t have a person of interest, Poole said in March, but are confident someone has a “kernel of information” that can help solve the case. When asked if Ramirez’ husband has been ruled out as a suspect, Poole said nobody has been ruled out.

The victim’s daughter is now living with her grandmother.

»Photo of Karlyn Ramirez, courtesy of Anne Arundel County Police