Police: Man charged with murder in death of woman found at Lansdowne Middle School

A Halethorpe man has been charged in connection with the death of a woman whose body was found in late January at Lansdowne Middle School, according to Baltimore County Police.

Clarence Henson, 57, faces first- and second-degree murder charges in the death of Audra Pineda, a 37-year-old woman, according to court records.

A student walking to school Jan. 31 saw the woman’s body lying on the ground behind the school with “blood all over,” charging documents said. School staff alerted a school resource officer, who called police to the school at about 8:10 a.m. Detectives saw blood spatter on the brick wall near her body, according to charging documents.

Ryan Warfel, the middle school’s principal, wrote in a letter to parents that students were kept inside and away from the crime scene.

On Feb. 2, police identified the woman, who was pronounced dead at the scene, as Pineda and announced that they had opened a homicide investigation. An autopsy found that the cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries with evidence of strangulation, according to court papers.

In charging documents, police said Pineda was homeless and staying in the Lakeland area of Baltimore City when she was killed.

The school’s surveillance cameras captured Pineda and Henson walking on a footpath behind the school from Gehb Avenue just before 7 p.m. Jan. 30, according to charging documents. Investigators wrote that Pineda and Henson stopped where Pineda’s body was found, where the two “appear[ed] to be in an altercation.”

The video footage showed Henson walking back toward Gehb Avenue at 7:17 p.m., court papers said. No one else approached the body until 8 a.m. the next morning.

Investigators also reviewed footage of Pineda and Henson leaving a Hollins Ferry Road pizza restaurant together on the evening of Jan. 30.

Henson turned himself in to Baltimore Police on Wednesday after seeing on the news that he was a suspect in a homicide, charging documents said. In an interview with a Baltimore County Police detective, he identified himself in surveillance footage from the pizza restaurant, but initially said he did not leave the restaurant with Pineda.

After he identified himself in a still photo and police told him it was taken behind the middle school, Henson said he was walking with the victim but decided to go home, charging documents said.

No attorney is listed in court records for Henson.

District Court Judge Susan Zellweger ordered Henson held without bond Friday. He remains at Baltimore County Detention Center, police said.