Derwood man convicted of second-degree murder in double shooting at Rockville hotel
Kaloyan Stoev, 27, faces maximum sentence of 150 years
By
Elia GriffinApril 27, 2026 10:01 a.m. | Updated: April 27, 2026 10:12 a.m.
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Count Me In!A 27-year-old Derwood man is facing a maximum prison sentence of 150 years after he was convicted Thursday of two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the January 2025 shooting deaths of Marcell Hebron, 26, and Leilani Marroquin, 27, at a hotel in Rockville, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office said Friday in a news release.
Kaloyan Dimov Stoev’s trial in the double-murder case began Monday in Montgomery County Circuit Court and ended Thursday evening when the jury delivered a guilty verdict, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said Friday afternoon in the release that Stoev faces a maximum of 150 years in prison and is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 28.
“The senseless and violent loss of the victims has left two families in our community devastated,” McCarthy said in the statement.
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Audrey Creighton, Stoev’s attorney, declined to comment Monday morning on the case and conviction.
The jury also found Stoev guilty of two counts of the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and two counts of possession of a firearm while prohibited, the state’s attorney’s office said.
Hebron, who was a local rapper known as Lil Xelly, and Marroquin were fatally shot in the early morning of Jan. 17, 2025, at the Sleep Inn Hotel, according to charging documents and the state’s attorney’s office. Stoev told investigators that he had planned to buy two ounces of cannabis from Hebron and shot him and Marroquin before the transaction began, charging documents said. Hebron was shot 27 times.
Rockville double murder
At 3:15 a.m. on Jan. 17, 2025, a Montgomery County police officer on routine patrol was driving in the area of Shady Grove Road and Research Boulevard in Rockville when the officer came upon a bullet-riddled white BMW car stopped in the roadway and discovered Hebron’s body behind the wheel, according to charging documents.
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Hours later, at 7:40 a.m., Rockville police officers responded to the parking lot of the Sleep Inn Hotel at 2 Research Court for the report of a dead person, according to the state’s attorney’s office. Officers located Marroquin’s body in the parking lot.
After discovering the bodies, police learned that an employee of the Sleep Inn Hotel saw someone with a gun in the early morning hours of Jan. 17, according to charging documents. The person was identified as Stoev, who checked into the hotel the previous day with an expected checkout date of Jan. 20, 2025, the documents said.
Staff told police that Stoev left the hotel abruptly at roughly 5:30 a.m. Jan. 17, carrying a duffle bag and backpack and sweating profusely, charging documents said. Video surveillance captured someone police believed to be Stoev running from the area of Shady Grove Road toward the hotel around the time Hebron’s body was found.
Police arrested Stoev later that day after he had returned to the hotel.
After the arrest, Stoev revealed to investigators that around 3 a.m. on Jan. 17, he had shot Hebron while sitting in the back seat of Hebron’s BMW, according to charging documents. Hebron sat in the driver’s seat and Marroquin sat in the front passenger’s seat.
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Stoev told investigators that he shot Hebron with a ghost gun first after seeing Hebron pull a gun from his own waistband and then shot Marroquin after she attempted to retrieve a gun from the car’s glovebox, charging documents said.
After seeing Marroquin drop to the pavement in the parking lot and believing she was dead, Stoev said he then discarded her phone. He then drove the BMW away from the hotel while sitting on top of Hebron, whom he also believed to be dead, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
Stoev told investigators that he planned to hide the vehicle in a wooded area. However, at the intersection of Shady Grove Road and Research Boulevard, the car stopped working, according to charging documents. So, Stoev abandoned the vehicle and returned to the hotel.
At the hotel, Stoev said he dropped a handgun onto the floor of the hotel’s breakfast area, which was reported by a hotel employee to investigators. He later left the hotel and went to a nearby Home Depot, according to charging documents.
Upon returning to the hotel again, Stoev was stopped by police, charging documents said. During his arrest, he was carrying a .40 caliber ghost gun in his backpack and a 9mm semiautomatic handgun.
Police initially charged Stoev with first-degree murder and firearms-related charges, according to the charging documents. On Feb. 13, 2025, Stoev was indicted on those charges and ordered to be held without bond the following day, according to online court records. On April 17, 2025, Stoev pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Bethesda Today reporter Ashlyn Campbell contributed to this story.
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine