62-year-old American man of  Maryland arrested, charged with 1982 kidnapping, rape, murder

After a 40-year investigation, police in Howard County, Maryland arrested 62-year old Howard Jackson Bradberry, Jr. for the rape and murder of 28-year-old Laney Lee McGadney

By Edward Era Barbacena

On March 29, 1982, Laney Lee McGadney, a 28-year-old mother of four, left her home in Columbia, Maryland to walk to a grocery store.

As she walked along Oakland Mills Road, witnesses saw a man kidnap her. Her body was found later that day in a vacant lot, now known as Water Lily Way, according to a news release from Howard County Police.

McGadney had been raped and stabbed to death.

Despite a lengthy investigation, the case remained unsolved for nearly 40 years.

This week, after DNA test results linked him to the crime scene, police arrested Howard Jackson Bradberry, Jr., 62, at his home on Montgomery Street in Laurel.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball and Police Chief Lisa Myers said police never gave up on solving the crime. Cold case investigators continued to check the evidence trying to identify any new leads.

Earlier this year, police received the results of a DNA test on evidence collected from the crime scene. After obtaining additional information, they traced the DNA to Bradberry.

Bradberry has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree rape, and kidnapping.