The stepfather of a missing teenage girl was charged with murder and child abuse after the body of the teen was found concealed within a house Wednesday, according to a news release from the Hagerstown Police Department.
Ernie Benjamin Chase, 35, was charged with first- and second-degree murder, first-degree child abuse resulting in death and first-degree child abuse resulting in severe injury after the body of Melissa Skye Collins, 17, was found inside a home at 124 East Ave., according to the release.
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Officers were flagged down in the 100 block of North Mulberry Street at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday by a concerned citizen requesting a welfare check of a possible missing juvenile.
Officers responded to the East Avenue home to check the residence and take the report of the missing juvenile, the release said.
During the course of the investigation, officers became suspicious of the information being provided. Detectives obtained a search warrant of the residence and found the body of the victim concealed within the house, the release said.
Hagerstown police posted a missing person alert for Melissa on Wednesday evening. She was last seen leaving her East Avenue home at about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Melissa was a student at North Hagerstown High School, according to Washington County Public Schools spokesman Richard Wright.
He said grief counselors were made available to students who needed them and a letter would be sent home with students to give to their parents.
Further details on the investigation were not available Thursday morning.
Investigators from the Western Maryland Regional Crime Laboratory were on the scene Thursday morning.
Neighbors this morning said they saw police on the street Wednesday.
Jordan Anderson, who lives at 133 East Ave., was among them and said the street was “pretty rough.”
“Everybody was out, watching, looking at the house and everything,” he said. “It was pretty much the (most) people that I’ve seen ever out in this neighborhood.”
Anderson, 22, said he heard about Melissa’s death through Facebook.
“It really makes me upset that this happens because all of our young people are dying,” he said.
Hannah McCarty, who lives at 136 East Ave. and whose niece went to school with Melissa, said she also found out about what happened through Facebook.
McCarty, 22, said she has never really had any problems with where she lives, but described the incident as tragic and sad.
“It’s kind of scary,” she said. “It’s like so close to home and at such a young age.”
