Jeffrey Caplan
Alexander Stevens, 24, was found naked with his throat slashed in a Maryland forest in early January. On Thursday, his girlfriend was charged with murder.
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More than eight months after the gruesome discovery, Megan Shaffer, 21, faces charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and assisting another to commit or attempt to commit suicide, according to The Cumberland Times-News.
Police investigation lasted more than eight months before the words "murder" and "charges" were used today. https://t.co/pZn4EZZVyw pic.twitter.com/5uACEzt8uw
— Teresa McMinn (@teresamcminn1) September 14, 2017
The woman initially reported his death as an accident, telling authorities they went hiking in the Savage River State Forest on the night of Jan. 3, and they had fallen off a cliff. She said she feared Stevens had died from the 30-plus-foot fall and left him there.
She said he had become lost in the forest and didn’t emerge until the next morning. She found a house and called 911, she said. She was then taken to the hospital with a broken shoulder and possible broken back.
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But the next day, Stevens’ body was discovered on a logging road and his throat had been slashed more than once, in addition to several broken bones, the newspaper reported. Two months after his body was found, his death was ruled a homicide.
Stevens’ father, Jay Stevens, according to court records, told police that his son had been acting strangely ever since he was forced out of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2014, according to court records. He had grown his hair long and was reading about religions, his father said, while also noting that he never seemed suicidal.
“He had all these plans to do things,” Jay Stevens said.
The case also involves a $188,000 “transfer on death” account Stevens had opened and listed Shaffer as the beneficiary. A judge granted Stevens’ father’s request to stop the transfer.
