Police investigate deaths of 4 in Maryland hotel

[April 21, 2009]  TOWSON, Md. (AP) -- Staff at a suburban Baltimore hotel unlocked a guest door and found the bodies of a man, two women and a teenage girl inside, but authorities on Tuesday had few details about what they think happened inside the room.

The four were related and police were not looking for any suspects, said Baltimore County Police Cpl. Michael Hill.

But he said it's unclear whether the deaths came in a murder-suicide. Hill said the victims were not from the Baltimore area and that police were trying to contact the next of kin. Autopsies were planned for Tuesday, and police didn't release identities.

The (Baltimore) Sun reported that police towed a Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle bearing New York plates from the parking lot of the Sheraton Baltimore North Hotel.

Hotel staff made the discovery after the room occupants didn't check out when expected from the Sheraton Baltimore North Hotel in Towson, just north of Baltimore, said Baltimore County Police Department spokesman Bill Toohey.

Hill said it was not known whether all four people were hotel guests and that it would be premature to release a cause of death.

"We don't know even what kind of investigation we're dealing with at this point," he said Monday evening.

Several hotel employees declined to comment.

K.C. Kavanagh, spokeswoman for Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, said Sheraton Baltimore North is a franchise property and the owner of the hotel is GF Hotels.

"This is just a terrible tragedy and our team is terribly saddened by this event," Kavanagh said. "We're doing all we can to assist the police and it's a matter that's in their hands at this time."

Nick Gelston, 30, an electrician from Bel Air, said he stayed at the hotel Saturday night to attend a friend's wedding. He was back there Monday afternoon because his car had broken down and he left it at the hotel.

"I hope it was nobody who was with us," Gelston said, adding that he wasn't aware that any of the wedding guests had stayed on the 10th floor where the bodies were found.

Melanie Morris, a cosmetics trainer from Birmingham, Ala., checked into the hotel Monday afternoon and said she was "a little scared" to see police cars outside.

"The front desk said there was an incident on the 10th floor and there was no immediate danger to the guests," Morris said.

She said she had stayed at the hotel before and always found it to be pleasant and well-run. Her room cost $167 a night.

[Associated Press]

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