Wicomico County, MD – On October 28, 2022, after a seven (7) day jury trial in a Wicomico County Circuit Court, former Delmar, Maryland resident Kenneth Evans was convicted of 1st-degree murder, First Degree Rape, Home Invasion, Robbery, Arson First Degree, and related offenses.
The case was presided over by the Honorable S. James Sarbanes, Administrative Judge of the First Judicial Circuit. Sentencing was deferred pending the completion of a Pre-Sentence Investigation. Evans will remain in custody pending sentencing.
During the early morning of May 21, 2021, Evans traveled from the Delmar area to a residential neighborhood along Glastonbury Drive in Salisbury, Maryland.
Kenneth Evans then entered the home of Helen Riggins, where he heinously offended her over a course of hours. Riggins was bound, strangled, raped, and murdered.
In an effort to conceal the evidence of his crimes, Evans doused the victim and areas of the interior of the residence with gasoline and then set it ablaze just prior to fleeing on foot.
Wicomico County State’s Attorney (SA) Jamie Dykes, who assisted the lead prosecutor ASA Lauren Bourdon in the prosecution, said, “the strong collaboration and cooperation among agencies charged with protecting and serving our community resulted in a just and swift verdict. I am grateful for the jury who spent the better part of two (2) weeks hearing and seeing difficult evidence of the Defendant’s torture of an innocent grandmother. The jury’s verdict and the Defendant’s forthcoming sentence will ensure that the public is safe from this Defendant”.
SA Dykes commended the lead investigators, Sgt. Stephen Hallman of the Maryland State Police (MSP) Homicide Unit and Deputy State Fire Marshall Christopher McIntyre, as well as the other members of the MSP Homicide Unit and the Office of the State Fire Marshal, Deputy First Class Howard Bowden, and the responding members of the Hebron Volunteer Fire Department, Salisbury Fire Department, and Laurel, Delaware Fire Departments. SA Dykes also commended Assistant State’s Attorney L Bourdon for hard work and diligence in the prosecution of the case.
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