Two women charged in killing of Silver Spring resident apprehended in Ohio

Slain woman's daughter and her girlfriend are awaiting extradition to Maryland, MoCo police say

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June 11, 2026 11:19 a.m.

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Two women charged in connection with the killing of a 67-year-old Silver Spring woman were apprehended Wednesday in Ohio, Montgomery County police said in a press release Thursday morning.

Vanessa Tjongarero-Henderson of Clarksburg, and her girlfriend, Samantha Raebel of Phoenix, Arizona, are charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Tjongarero-Henderson’s mother, 67-year-old Hilde Henderson of Silver Spring.

Their arrest came after a local resident recognized them from media coverage and contacted the Genoa, Ohio, police department, according to Thursday’s release.

Tjongarero-Henderson, 29, and Raebel, 36, are being held at the Ottawa County Detention Center awaiting extradition to Maryland. Charging documents for the women were not available as of Thursday morning. 

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Henderson was found dead shortly after 11 a.m. on May 26 after officers responded to her apartment at the Charter House senior living community in the 1300 block of Fenwick Lane for a welfare check, according to Montgomery County police. Detectives believe she died on May 22, the department said Thursday.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore conducted an autopsy and ruled Henderson’s death a homicide. County police said Thursday the cause of death was blunt force trauma.

The discovery of Henderson led to a weeklong hunt for the two women charged with killing her. According to Thursday’s statement, media outlets in Phoenix, Ohio and Nashville, Tennessee reported on the case. The media coverage yielded “multiple tips from several states,” according to county police.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine