On April 3, 2018, at approximately 3:25 a.m., officers from the Charles County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 7400 block of Shirley Boulevard in Port Tobacco for the report of a missing person who possibly drowned.
When officers arrived, they met with EMS who had arrived on the scene minutes before.
A preliminary investigation showed that family members of William Washington Smith, 79, of Port Tobacco, contacted 911 after they noticed Smith was not asleep in his bed. Family members began searching the area for him and alerted police.
Emergency workers found Smith, who was blind, in the water about 100 yards away from his residence; he was pronounced deceased on the scene.
Smith was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy.
There were no obvious signs of trauma, and foul play is not suspected.
The investigation is continuing.
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On April 3 at approximately 7:50 p.m., officers from the Charles County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a possible death near the railroad tracks near Route 925 and Smallwood Drive in Waldorf.
A train operator observed the body of a male in a pond, and the man was pronounced deceased on the scene.
A preliminary investigation showed the man, James Steven Lancaster, Jr., 31, of no fixed address, was last seen by family members on March 27. On March 31, he was reported missing.
There were no obvious signs of trauma, and foul play is not suspected.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore will perform an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.
Detective C. Shankster is investigating.
