CHEVERLY, Md. — Prince George’s County police identified Baari Shabazz as the suspect in the 1998 strangulation and sexual assault of Sheryl Crandell at Prince George’s Hospital Center on November 10, 2025. The 50-year-old administrative director of the hospital’s family health center was found dead in her fourth-floor office on January 13, 1998, after a maintenance worker discovered her body around 8:30 p.m. Shabazz, who lived about one mile from the facility at the time, died in 2019 at age 69, leaving the case without charges but providing closure through genetic evidence.
An autopsy confirmed Crandell died from strangulation, with evidence of sexual assault. The initial investigation by the Prince George’s County Police Department’s Homicide Unit involved interviewing hospital staff and reviewing security footage from the 40-acre complex, but yielded no immediate arrests. Police conducted a controversial DNA dragnet in the weeks following the killing, requesting saliva samples from more than 100 male employees, including maintenance workers who felt coerced during questioning at police headquarters. One such worker, a long-term hospital employee, later described the process as feeling like an interrogation, with officers asking about personal relationships with Crandell and requiring written statements.
A housekeeper, Edna Brown, provided a statement to police that day, claiming she heard screams and saw a man with his hands around Crandell’s neck while passing the office. Brown, who had a documented intellectual disability, described thinking the man was helping until realizing otherwise. Her account, uncovered years later by investigators for a 2021 WTOP podcast series, was not pursued further at the time due to concerns over her reliability. The case went cold despite fingerprints and DNA recovered from the scene.
In December 2021, the PGPD Cold Case Unit obtained court authorization for investigative genetic genealogy, a method that uploads crime scene DNA to public databases to trace distant relatives and build family trees. The FBI Baltimore Field Office’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Team analyzed the evidence, identifying Shabazz in late October 2025. No connection between the suspect and victim has surfaced, and the motive remains unknown. Police emphasized the technique’s role in resolving long-stalled probes, similar to a 1979 Prince George’s County murder solved earlier this year through the same process, which led to the arrest of an 82-year-old man in North Carolina.
Investigative genetic genealogy emerged as a forensic breakthrough in 2018 with the capture of the Golden State Killer, using consumer DNA kits to match partial profiles against family uploads. In Maryland, it requires judicial approval to protect privacy, with analysts constructing trees from matches on sites like GEDmatch. PGPD’s unit, formed in 2019, has applied it to dozens of cases, partnering with labs like Othram Inc. for degraded samples. The approach combines short tandem repeat DNA with single nucleotide polymorphisms for broader familial links, often narrowing suspects to a handful for traditional verification.
Crandell, a Bowie resident and mother of three, managed the family health center, overseeing outpatient services in a wing that closed at 5 p.m. daily. Colleagues remembered her as dedicated, organizing holiday food drives for low-income patients and staying late to handle paperwork. Hospital President Allan Atzrott called her a “family member” to the staff, prompting a security review that added patrols and real badges to deter intruders, as some cameras were decoys. The facility, now part of the University of Maryland Capital Region Health system, treated thousands annually in the 1990s as Prince George’s largest hospital.
Shabazz’s background remains limited in public records, with no prior links to the hospital or Crandell. He resided in the Cheverly area, a suburb of 6,500 about eight miles from downtown Washington, known for its mid-20th-century homes and proximity to the Capital Beltway. Cheverly, incorporated in 1910, grew as a bedroom community for federal workers, with the hospital anchoring local employment.
The identification revives interest in the case, featured in WTOP’s “American Nightmares” podcast Season 2, “Murder in a Safe Place,” which detailed the dragnet and witness accounts. Prince George’s County, bordering Charles County in Southern Maryland, has seen rising use of such tools amid 300 unsolved homicides since 1970. The Cold Case Unit prioritizes violent crimes with viable DNA, collaborating with federal partners to process backlogs.
Detectives seek additional tips to clarify circumstances. Call the Homicide Unit at 301-516-2512 or submit anonymously via pgcrimesolvers.com, the P3 Tips app or 1-866-411-TIPS (8477), referencing case 98-013-1118. The probe continues, with evidence preserved for potential family notifications.
The Crandell case underscores persistence in justice delivery, closing a chapter after 27 years without erasing the loss.
