Crime & Safety

The Week's Best of Police and Fire Reporting

Patch reports on cops, crime and occasional chaos in your community.

From the latest discovery in the case of a missing teenage girl to rehabilitating fathers reading to their children, here are the police and crime stories that unfolded in our part of Maryland this week.


The vehicle of Francis Scott Key High School coach Timothy Patrick Walsh was hit nearly head-on by a dump truck Wednesday morning, according to Maryland State Police. Read the full story on Eldersburg Patch.


A man who is in prison for murdering his wife in Owings Mills in 2008 has been linked to a rape that occurred in Reisterstown in 2001, police say. Learn more about the DNA evidence that has come to light on Owings Mills Patch.


The North Carolina teenager had been missing since December, when she was visiting family in Baltimore. But Wednesday morning the female body found in the Susquehanna River was confirmed to be that of 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes. Read more about the discovery on Arbutus Patch, or learn how detectives plan to focus their efforts on answering lingering questions as the , posted on Elkridge Patch .


A Catonsville-based program works with dads at the Baltimore County Detention Center in Towson to promote family reading in correctional facilities. To find out more about the nonprofit Turning Pages Family Reading Club don’t miss this story on Catonsville Patch.


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