A man has been charged for a 1996 cold case murder as a result of extensive investigative work by the Frederick Police Department’s (FPD) Criminal Investigations Division.
FREDERICK, MD – A man has been charged for a 1996 cold case murder as a result of extensive investigative work by the Frederick Police Department’s (FPD) Criminal Investigations Division. Lloyd Harris, 52, is charged in the murder of Stacy Lynn Hoffmaster. He faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole in state prison. He is currently being held in Kansas City, Missouri, awaiting extradition back to Maryland.
October 2, 1996, Stacy Lynn Hoffmaster, age 15, was reported missing. Her body was found under a moving blanket on December 23, 1996, in a wooded area, adjacent to Interstate 70 and E South Street, in Frederick Maryland. In 1996, Stacy’s body was examined by the Medical Examiner in Baltimore, MD and the manner of death was determined to be asphyxiation by strangulation.
Stacy’s case has remained open for the past 19 years and the investigation has continued with the most recent lead investigator being Detective Kevin Forrest, who was assigned the case in November 2014. Over the past year, FPD detectives re-interviewed several witnesses and retired FPD detectives who originally investigated this case. After careful review of all the evidence and reports filed by past detectives, FPD Detectives presented the case to the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office, and with their help and cooperation in the investigation, found there was sufficient evidence to support taking the case before the Grand Jury.
On Friday January 22, 2016, the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office presented the case before the Grand Jury. The Frederick County Grand Jury handed down an indictment for 1st Degree Murder, 1st Degree Rape, and 3rd Degree Sex Offense on Mr. Lloyd Harris. Mr. Harris was 33 at the time of the murder and both he and Stacy were familiar to each other. Mr. Harris was living in the wooded area near where Stacy’s body was located.
On January 28, 2016, Detectives from the Frederick Police Department traveled to Kansas City, Missouri and were present when agents from the FBI Fugitive Task Force and Kansas City Missouri Homicide Detectives placed Mr. Harris under arrest for the murder of Stacy Lynn Hoffmaster.
The investigation in this case is ongoing and no further information will be released at this time. If you require clarification on the information provided in this release, please contact Lt Clark A. Pennington, Public Information Officer for the Frederick Police Department, at 301-600-3935
Author of Press Release: Lt Clark A. Pennington