ELKTON — A man has been charged with murder and other offenses after a Cecil County grand jury handed up a six-count indictment against him on Thursday, five months after he allegedly shot a crossbow arrow into a woman inside of his Conowingo residence — killing her, according to court records.
Cecil County Sheriff’s Office investigators arrested the defendant — Jeffrey Allen Lander, 41 — at his residence in the 700 block of Bell Manor Road in Conowingo late Thursday night, hours after the grand jury indicted him a criminal case marked by a protracted investigation in which detectives considered evidence gathered at the scene, findings from an autopsy performed on the victim and consultations with the Cecil County State’s Attorney’s Office, police reported.
Lander stands accused of drawing a crossbow and shooting 45-year-old Judy Elizabeth Gee in the back with an arrow on Jan. 14 inside that Bell Manor Road residence, where Gee also lived. Deputies and paramedics rendered medical aid at the scene, before an ambulance crew drove Gee to Lancaster General Hospital in Lancaster, Pa., where she died from her wound despite “life-saving measures attempted by medical staff,” according to police.
CCSO deputies and paramedics rushed to the Bell Manor Road residence at approximately 4:40 p.m. on Jan. 14, after receiving a dispatch regarding a woman who had been struck in the back with an arrow, police reported.
“The arrow was fired from a crossbow, which belonged to an occupant of the residence. The individual who fired the weapon was located at the residence and (was) transported to the Cecil County Sheriff’s Office for further investigative efforts,” Lt. Michael Zack, a CCSO spokesman, outlined shortly after the incident and then noted that “all interested parties have been identified.”
Investigators did not make an arrest in the case until Thursday, when they took Lander into custody, police reported.
As of Tuesday, details of the crossbow incident that resulted in Gee’s death and in the murder indictment against Lander were unavailable. CCSO Det. Jonathan Eldreth served as the lead investigator, police reported. Court records indicate that the murder case against Lander has been assigned to Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Sentman.
Lander is charged with second-degree murder, which is punishable by up to 40 years in prison if convicted, according to Cecil County Circuit Court records. He also is charged with three other felonies — first-degree assault, which carries a maximum 25-year sentence; and manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter, each of which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, court records show. In addition, Lander is charged with second-degree assault and reckless endangerment, misdemeanors that carry maximum sentences of 10 years and five years respectively.
He remained in the Cecil County Detention Center on no bond Tuesday, four days after his bail review hearing, according to court records, which show that Cecil County Circuit Court Judge William W. Davis Jr. presided over that proceeding.
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