Left: Lansdowne Middle School, where Pineda’s body was found (WBAL/YouTube). Right: Clarence Henson (WJZ/YouTube).
A Maryland man was sentenced to 40 years for killing a woman, beating her so badly that every bone in her face was broken and leaving her strangled and bloodied body behind for a middle school student arriving at school to find the following morning.
Clarence Henson, 58, learned his fate on Thursday in the death of Audra Pineda, 37. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last month, online court records show.
She was killed on the evening of Jan. 30, 2023, police said.
School surveillance cameras caught Henson and Pineda behind Lansdowne Middle School that night. Her body was found the following morning with “blood all over,” with the medical examiner later ruling she died from multiple blunt force injuries and strangulation, local NBC affiliate WBAL reported, citing court documents.
The Baltimore Sun reported every bone in the victim’s face had been broken.
“He preyed on a woman who was in the throes of addiction,” Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Fuller said, the paper reported. “He lures her back behind that middle school, and he pummels her to death.”
A 13-year-old student found her body the following morning, the Sun reported.
The grim scene shocked students, parents and staff and prompted a school lockdown, the principal said in a letter to parents.
“I was more than shocked because my daughter had called me,” one parent told local CBS affiliate WJZ. “She said something was going on at the school. She wanted me to come and get her. I called up to the school to see what was going on. They didn’t tell me there was a body found.”
Police quickly identified Henson, who surrendered at a police station after “he saw himself on the news and was wanted in reference to a homicide,” WBAL reported.
In court on Thursday, the defendant apologized and blamed drugs and alcohol, fueled by recent grief over the 2022 murder of his daughter at age 33, the Baltimore Sun reported.
“I remember getting high, and I was drinking. That’s all I remember. I don’t remember hurting her,” Henson said, the Sun reported. “Every day, I feel like dying. I don’t know how I lasted this long.”
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