A resident of a Silver Spring, Maryland, group home has been charged with second-degree murder after police say he beat a 62-year-old caregiver to death over the weekend.
Around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, police were called to a group home on Carona Court where they found Fokam Henry Sigala lying unresponsive on the floor. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
The group home is a residence for adult men who need living assistance.
In charging documents filed in District Court in Rockville, police said a witness told officers that 27-year-old David Opie Edward struck Sigala with his hands, causing him to fall to the floor, and then got on top of him and “smashed his head into the floor multiple times.”
Edward was charged with second-degree murder. He is set to undergo a mental health evaluation and will have a bond review Tuesday morning.
The charging documents do not describe the events leading up to the assault.
In a statement, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said, “Our hearts go out to the family of Fokam Henry Sigala. This is an incredibly tragic and unique murder case. We have been made aware that the defendant has diminished mental/emotional capacity and is nonverbal.”
McCarthy’s statement said a prosecutor from his office responded to the scene over the weekend and has been working with police, the department of corrections and the health department “to ensure that there is no further danger to public safety and that the defendant is appropriately detained pending the outcome of this case.”
