An incarcerated man confessed last year to two murders that took place 15 years apart in Maryland and Virginia, authorities announced Wednesday.
Charles Helem, 52, confessed to the 2002 murder of Jennifer Landry in Mount Rainier, Maryland, and the 1987 murder of Eige Sober-Adler in Fairfax County, Virginia, CNN reported. The 52-year-old confessed to Landry’s murder in September of 2021, and Sober-Adler’s in October of 2021, according to authorities. He is currently serving a life sentence for the 2002 killing of Patricia Bentley, 37, in Chantilly, Virginia. (RELATED: Police Arrest Suspect In Unsolved Murder Case From 43 Years Ago)
Charles Helem is serving a life sentence for the 2002 murder of Patricia Bentley and he may now face charges for the 1987 killing of Eige Sober-Adler in Virginia, and the 2002 death of Jennifer Landry in Maryland, police said. #Dateline https://t.co/0XNKKxb5Wc
— Dateline NBC (@DatelineNBC) January 20, 2022
Helem wrote to the Mount Rainier Police Department in 2010, and said he had knowledge about Landry’s murder, prompting investigators to reopen the case, according to the Prince George’s County Police Department (PGCPD). Helem initially refused an interview when detectives tried speaking with him in prison. Seven years later, he wrote another letter and once again refused to be interviewed.
In September of 2021, however, detectives from the PGCPD’s Cold Case Unit tried proposed another interview, to which Helem finally agreed. During the September interview, he provided information to detectives “only the suspect would know” and detailed the events leading up to Landry’s murder, the press release stated.
Charles Helem has been claiming for a decade he had info on a 2002 cold case murder in Maryland, but would never talk to detectives.
Finally this fall, he admitted to the murder — and a 1987 killing in Virginia, police said.https://t.co/nKi5MgJqXv
— Katie Mettler (@kemettler) January 20, 2022
Following the confession to Landry’s murder, PGCPD contacted Fairfax County Police. Helem later confessed in October 2021 to murdering Sober-Adler and was indicted Tuesday, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis reportedly said at a news conference.