UPDATE: Ashley Pearl Zentz has received a life sentence in this case.

Original story below…

EDGEWOOD, MD—An Edgewood woman has been convicted on murder charges.

Last week, Ashley Pearl Zentz, 34, of Edgewood, was found guilty of first-degree murder and motor vehicle theft following a six-day jury trial in the Harford County Circuit Court.

During the trial, evidence was presented indicating that at just before 8 a.m. on Friday, February 18, 2022, Harford County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a 9-1-1 call at 2310 Perry Avenue in Edgewood, after 71-year-old Gerald Champ was found deceased by his daughter inside his home.

Family members had not been able to reach Champ for days prior to the discovery and also had reported his 2003 Ford Explorer to be missing from the residence. An autopsy revealed the homicide occurred as a result of blunt force trauma, with prong-like defects embedded in the skull, including multiple skull fractures, and defensive wounds to his hands and arms.

Detectives assumed the case, locating a crowbar in the victim’s home, and it was identified as the murder weapon. Through the course of the investigation, suspects were developed, including Ashley Pearl Zentz, who knew the victim and his family for over twenty years. Family members of the victim located the victim’s missing Ford Explorer abandoned in Baltimore County.  The vehicle was found near a home invasion in which Zentz and the same co-defendant were involved, which occurred within 24 hours of when the victim was believed to have been murdered.

A silver Infiniti QX80 stolen during the Baltimore County home invasion was later recovered in Middle River, less than one mile from Zentz’s parents’ home. Forensic evidence, including DNA, cell phone downloads, and surveillance video, linked Zentz to the Harford County murder and the Baltimore County home invasion.

Following the jury’s verdict, Zentz was returned to the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup, where she is currently serving a sentence for her conviction in the Baltimore County home invasion case. She will be sentenced for the murder conviction and vehicle theft charges on Monday, December 18, 2023.