BROOKLYN, Md. — When police arrived at the house on Wasena Avenue in Brooklyn Park, 25-year-old Brent Ryan Faulkner emerged from the home where his mother had just been murdered.
"He comes out with blood all over him... had a phone in his hand and they sat him on the curb, went inside and then they ran out of there and pushed him on the ground and locked him up and told him he was under arrest," said a nearby neighbor, Michael Youngbar.
Police found the body of Faulkner's mother, 52-year-old Dona Lee Faulkner, in an upstairs bedroom with a broken knife near her body---a knife, which matched other kitchen knives in the home, and the son's story of an intruder committing the murder, which he had shared with an operator when he called 911, soon began to unravel.
"He's trying to say that a black guy was in the house and he ran through and he just pulled the knife out of his mother,” said Youngbar, “That's why he was bloody, but no one went for it."
In addition to a scratch on the son's face and cuts on his fingers, police found the water still running in a bathroom with a large amount of blood present and a strong odor of chemicals where someone had tried to clean up evidence of the crime.
The victim's friends say the son was bipolar and suffered from schizophrenia, leaving him nowhere to turn when he was unable to live on his own.
"She was trying to keep him where he would take his medication, which was a big struggle. He started stealing from her," said Melody Skowrunski, "She really didn't want him there, but being a mother and a good soul, she let him come in and unfortunately, she paid for it with her life."
A neighbor says Dona Faulkner suspected her son was trying to poison her a month ago, and friends were concerned she wasn't safe while he was living there.
Brent Faulkner now stands charged with first and second-degree murder.
Although an arrest has been made this is a very active and fluid investigation. Homicide detectives are asking anyone with information to come forward by calling the Anne Arundel County Homicide Unit at 410-222-4731. If anyone with information wishes to remain anonymous, they can also contact the Anne Arundel County Police Tip Line 410-222-4700 or Metro Crime Stoppers.
