La Plata, MD — Charles County Circuit Court Judge H. James West sentenced Travis Edward Paschal Wood, 36, of Waldorf, to life imprisonment plus an additional 15 years on Thursday, January 8, 2026. The sentence followed Wood’s conviction for first-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife, Shawnda Nicole Wood, and use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.
The crimes occurred in the early morning hours of December 9, 2022, at the couple’s residence in the 2300 block of Tawny Drive in Waldorf. Prosecutors established that Wood and his wife had spent the previous evening dining out and shopping with their three young daughters, followed by drinks at a hookah lounge. They returned home around 2 a.m. After the victim fell asleep in bed, Wood retrieved his registered firearm and shot her once in the back of the head while she slept.
Wood woke the children later that morning, told them they were going to visit their grandmother, and instructed them not to wake their mother or enter her bedroom. He drove the girls to his mother’s home, returned to the residence for several hours, then went back to his mother’s house where he confessed to shooting and killing his wife. Following the confession, he returned to the home again before traveling to the Charles County Sheriff’s Office District Three Station in Waldorf with a female cousin to request a welfare check. He informed an investigator he had been suicidal the night before but provided no additional details about the homicide.
Sheriff’s deputies entered the unlocked residence and located a silver and black handgun on the couple’s bed along with the victim’s body, which displayed a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. Forensic analysis later confirmed Wood’s DNA on the firearm.
The case advanced to trial, resulting in a guilty verdict on October 27, 2025.
During the January 8, 2026, sentencing hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney John Stackhouse described the profound impact on the victim’s family, stating the victim “left behind grandparents, a mom and dad, sisters – obviously she left behind her three little girls – cousins, uncles, and aunts. It’s generational trauma that [the defendant] has caused.” He continued, “These three little girls had to be taken out of their house, school, and neighborhood. They had to be taken away from all their friends. All those things are a result of his actions. Their lives have been changed forever. [The victim] never got the opportunity to do Girl Scouts with her girls, see them play sports, go on their first date, graduate high school or college, get married, or have kids. All of that was taken from her by the person who is supposed to protect his wife and kids. Little girls need their mother. All those things were taken from Shawnda and her kids too. The level of betrayal is immeasurable in this case. This has the added trauma of three little girls trying to wrap their mind around the fact that their father murdered their mother while they were asleep in their house.” Stackhouse requested a sentence of life plus 20 years, noting that Wood “gave his family a life sentence.”
Judge West, before imposing life plus 15 years, remarked, “The loss is tremendous. It was done in the coldest of blood and I don’t understand it. The level of violence was extreme. The callousness that followed is rarely seen. The damage done to two families was excessive and permanent.”