Two people have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in a quadruple killing that claimed the lives of two young children, their mother, and their aunt, Prince George’s County police announced Saturday.
Darrell Lynn Bellard, 43, of Dickinson, Texas, and Tkeisha Nicole Gilmer, 18, of Texas City, Texas were arrested and are being held without bond by the county’s Department of Corrections.
Police identified the victims, all of Lanham, Md., as Shayla Shante Sikyala, 3, Shakur Sylvester Sikyala, 4, Dawn Yvette Brooks, 38, the mother of the two juvenile victims, and Mwasiti Sikyala, 41, the aunt of the two juvenile victims.
Police received a call about 2:35 a.m. Friday about an assault at a residence in the 6800 block of Third Street, and what they found was “horrific,” said Prince George’s County Police Chief Roberto Hylton. The bodies were surrounded by trash in conditions “that no human being should be living in,” Hylton said.
The two adult victims were connected to Bellard and Gilmer through the sale of marijuana, said Officer Evan Baxter with the Prince George’s County Police Department. Baxter could not immediately verify Saturday that the murders were drug-related.
Examiner Staff Writer Emily Babay contributed to this report.
