Sentencing in that case is set for March.
Frederick, Md (KM) In Circuit Court on Wednesday, a Frederick man entered a guilty plea to attempted 2nd-degree murder. Milton Orellana, 24, was arrested for stabbing a woman outside of 90 Waverly Drive.
“Having pled guilty to the attempted 2nd-degree murder, he faces a maximum prison term of 30 years. And we are going to be asking for the maximum sentence when his sentencing comes forth on March 9th of this year, 2017,” says State’s Attorney Charlie Smith.
Orellana is also a suspect in the June, 2015 murder of Gloria Watson, 52, of Frederick.
Police were called to 90 Waverly Drive on December 13th, 2014, for a stabbing. Through their investigation, officers learned that the victim, Christin Brown, was standing outside talking with her mother on her cell phone when Orellana attacked her. “The victim’s mother heard the daughter yell out on the phone ‘get away,’ and then she heard the phone go silent,” says Smith.
The mother asked Brown’s husband to go outside and check. He found Orellana on top of Brown, with his hands around her neck. Brown’s husband managed to get him off, and Orellana fled.
Brown was transported to University of Maryland Shock Trauma in Baltimore with several stab wounds to her neck.
At the time, Frederick Police had no leads on a suspect. Investigators gathered blood at the scene from the sidewalk. They obtained a swab from Orellana in September, 2015. It was used to develop a DNA profile which matched the suspect there at the scene, which was Orellana.
Smith was asked if there was a reason for Orellana to attack Brown. “We never did get an idea about why he attacked her. We believe it was potentially a robbery go awry. But, again, she was out front talking to her mother on her cell phone. All of a sudden this guy attacks her,” he says.
Orellana is awaiting trial on Watson’s murder.
He was on trial for that homicide in January when Circuit Court Judge Julie Stevenson Solt ruled a mistrial when Orellana’s attorney brought up Watson’s sexual history in opening statement to the jury.
By Kevin McManus