Chris Marvin Williams, 49, of Fort Washington
On January 1, 2018 at approximately 2:30 p.m., Deputy State Fire Marshal Brandon Shepperd of the Office of the State Fire Marshal Southern Agency was requested to respond to 4554 Ryan Place Waldorf for a reported house fire. Prior to his arrival, Shepperd was alerted by the Charles County Sheriff’s Office that there was a suspect in custody in regards to a violation of a protective order. The suspect set fire to an interior door mat in the garage.
Upon arrival, Shepperd met with the female victim, who stated that at about 2:00 p.m., she heard her garage door opening, followed by a loud banging sound and knocking on her interior door that leads to the garage. The victim realized it was her ex-boyfriend, Chris Marvin Williams, 49, of Fort Washington, that was yelling at the victim to open the door.
The victim dialed 911 as she could still hear the Williams banging and kicking her door. While on the phone with the 911 operator, the victim continued hearing the suspect banging and kicking the door, and demanding to speak to the victim.
At that point, she heard Charles County deputies yelling for the suspect to freeze. The victim felt it was safe at that point to open the front door and upon doing so, saw that the suspect was now in custody.
The deputies on scene then went into the garage and extinguished a small fire that started on the door mat in front of the victim’s door and left charring on the door. A boot print was also visible on the charred door.
The victim’s vehicle, a white Nissan SUV, was in the garage at the time and was covered in the dry chemical extinguisher powder. The tags to the vehicle were bent upwards in a fashion that rendered the tags unreadable.
The suspect’s vehicle, a red GMC Envoy, was in the victim’s driveway with the engine on and keys in the ignition. Deputies on scene turned the vehicle off so that it could be towed to the Charles County’s Forensic Sciences Unit for evidence processing. The victim did state that there may be a valid protection order in place against the suspect, whcih was confirmed by deputies on scene to be valid until July 2018.
Deputy Brooks transported the suspect to the Charles County Department of Corrections (DOC) for processing prior to DFM Shepperd’s arrival. After leaving the scene, Shepperd met with the suspect, who waived his Miranda rights and admitted his involvement.
Williams advised that he had been drinking on the way to the victim’s house and was upset because they had been arguing over the weekend and then the victim ignored his calls. The suspect admitted gaining entry into the garage by using the code, which was still the same as when he lived there.
Williams further admitted to banging and kicking both the garage door and front door, and throwing a brick through the victim’ s front window. He also admitted to destroying the victim’s vehicle tags and going through her vehicle and taking her military identification card, which was found on the suspect and given back to the victim by deputies on scene.
Williams stated he dropped a cigarette while in the garage by the door, which he cited as a potential cause for the fire. Williams claimed he did not intend to start a fire, nor did he even realize that a fire occurred until deputies on scene opened the garage door and smoke came out. At that time, the suspect was already in custody. After investigating, police found cigarettes on scene next to the door mat as Williams explained.
Williams told police that he was simply trying to get the victim to speak with him, and claimed to be unaware that the protective order was still in place. He stated that he went to court on December 4, 2017 for domestic assault, and since the charges were nolle prossed, he assumed the protective order was as well.
Chris Marvin Williams was charged with felony first-degree arson and misdemeanor second-degree malicious burning. He is currently being held without bond and awaits a preliminary hearing January 30, 2018 at the Charles County District Court.
Chris Marvin Williams, 49, of Fort Washington
