A Maryland jury found a 34-year-old man guilty of first-degree murder in the death of a beloved elementary school teacher, whom he killed and dismembered after attacking her while she was walking in a park.
One of the key pieces of evidence that swayed jurors toward a guilty verdict for Harold Francis Landon III in the death of 59-year-old Mariame Toure Sylla was a recorded jail call he made, which prosecutors showed in court.
“I literally let the savage inside of me out,” he said in a call played for jurors during closing arguments, according to a courtroom report by local NBC affiliate WRC.
The call, along with photos taken by a nearby business owner of Landon as he dumped what turned out to be part of Sylla’s dismembered body in a retention pond, cellphone data, and DNA evidence, prompted jurors to reach a verdict after about an hour of deliberation.
Sylla was last seen around 8 p.m. on July 29, 2023, at a park in Greenbelt, a suburb of Washington, DC. On August 1, 2023, just before 6:30 p.m., officers from the Prince George’s County Police Department responded to the 7300 block of Old Alexander Ferry Road in Clinton after discovering human remains outside.
Landon was arrested that same day on an unrelated assault charge. He was arrested for Sylla’s murder about a month later, following a thorough investigation and the identification of the teacher’s body.
Landon and Sylla had no prior acquaintance with one another, so the assault was random. Sylla’s cause of death was never officially determined, but investigators believe he strangled her before chopping up her body parts and dumping them in the area, according to The Washington Post. Police never recovered all of her remains.
Detectives later discovered Sylla’s DNA on Landon’s boots, and cellphone data indicated he was present at the time of the murder.
According to the Post, Landon’s truck bed contained a portion of her dress and scarf. In addition, surveillance footage showed what appeared to be a body in a black bag inside the defendant’s truck.
Following the verdict, State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy told reporters that it was critical to get Landon off the streets.
“He tried to dismember her body so that he could sever any evidence regarding his crime,” she told a news conference. “But today, the jury sent a very strong verdict, and now he is severed from our community.”
Sylla was originally from the Ivory Coast and had moved to the United States about a decade before her death. She taught second grade at Dora Kennedy French Immersion School, the Post reports.
Landon claimed innocence. His attorney reportedly stated that the case was “pure speculation.” Landon is scheduled to be sentenced on October 17.
