A 53-year-old woman arrested for stabbing her roommate to death had confessed in her journal that she believed 67-year-old Chong Park was "evil" and practicing "witchcraft," according to a Montgomery County Police release.
Rita Narcissa Sanders-Campfield, from Maryland, was charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday for stabbing Park to death with a butcher knife and a pair of scissors, The Washington Post reported. While she remains in jail, a judge has ordered her to undergo a mental health evaluation.
The 53-year-old, who allegedly lost her husband to pancreatic cancer in 1999 and dealt with a year-long hospitalization for depression, had recently claimed to be enjoying an improved life in a "lovely, beautiful" two-bedroom condo in North Bethesda with her roommate Park, according to a YouTube video posted several months ago.
On Tuesday morning, Park's daughter alerted apartment management after she had been unable to make contact with her mother since Nov. 29.
The building management discovered Park's dead body in her bedroom after getting inside the apartment, near Rockville Pike, about two miles north of the Capital Beltway, according to police documents. The victim was described to have "obvious injuries," with a large butcher knife sticking out of her back, according to WJLA.
When police authorities arrived around 10:00 a.m., Sanders-Campfield was in her own bed with injuries to her right arm, court papers said. "Possibly bite marks," detectives wrote in arrest records.
After combing the area, detectives found a bloody pair of scissors on the suspect's bed and a bloody purple dress in her closet.
Later, a handwritten journal was recovered alongside Sanders-Campfield's bed. "A passage in the journal identified Park by name," detectives wrote, "and in the journal it was written that Park was evil and practiced witchcraft."
The victim had been a client since 2006 of the nonprofit group Housing Unlimited, which helps low-income people in mental health recovery find permanent homes, Montgomery Community Media reported.
Park "was a model tenant - caring, conscientious, warm, friendly, and well-liked by all," Housing Unlimited chief executive Abe Schuchman said in a statement, adding that the group was "deeply saddened" by the 67-year-old's tragic death.
"Housing Unlimited has served hundreds of individuals over the years," the Silver Spring group said in the statement. "The death of Ms. Park is the only incident of this nature in our 20 years of operation. Again, our hearts and prayers are with the Park family."
The group was also responsible for providing Sanders-Campfield with housing services, the 53-year-old claimed in the video, which has not been verified by the agency.
During a Wednesday court hearing, a staff member at the Montgomery County jail told the judge that Sanders-Campfield "was speaking to herself and seemed to be in a catatonic state." Additionally, a public defender said in court that she had tried to talk to Sanders-Campfield, but the defendant was unable to have a conversation.
A judge delayed a bond review until the mental health review is completed.
Meanwhile, officials provided different spellings of Park's first name. In court papers, detectives spelled it Chong. So did the nonprofit group, Housing Unlimited. The Montgomery police press office spelled the name Chung.
