[Baltimore Sun] Baltimore roommates got in a fight over money. One is dead, the other got 40 years for murder.

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A Baltimore man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for killing his roommate in a dispute over money and ditching his body in a car.

City Circuit Judge John Addison Howard handed down the punishment to Markis Russell Wednesday, imposing a total of 60 years in prison but suspending all but 40 years behind bars.

Howard added five years of supervised probation for Russell upon release. People convicted of crimes of violence in Maryland become eligible for parole after serving 50% of their sentences.

In May, Russell, 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in the killing of his roommate, 22-year-old Jeffrey Brooks Jr. Both men were reportedly U.S. military reservists.

As part of their plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to seek between 35 and 40 years in prison at sentencing.

Russell’s attorney, Thomas J. Maronick Jr., did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment left with his law office Thursday morning.

A spokesman for Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, whose office prosecuted Russell, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Baltimore Police’s investigation into Russell began when Brooks’ family reported him missing March 23, 2023. The family also said he may have had an altercation with his roommate.

According to charging documents, Brooks’ father told officers that he saw Russell leave the apartment he shared with Brooks in the 3100 block of Mary Ave. with a wet vacuum after Brooks went missing. Brooks’ girlfriend, who had access to the apartment, also reported to investigators noticing that the carpet was wet.

Russell explained the vacuum by telling officers he needed to clean up after a dog before moving out, detectives wrote in charging documents. He also acknowledged getting into a fight with Brooks over money.

Detectives wrote that they learned Russell rented and returned a U-Haul within a few hours the day after Brooks went missing.

When detectives interviewed Russell, he allegedly confessed to shooting Brooks during an altercation over money Russell allegedly owed Brooks, charging documents say. The argument apparently became physical and Russell told detectives that he fired his gun after Brooks approached him with a knife “in a manner that he felt Mr. Brooks was going to stab him.”

After fatally shooting Brooks, Russell put his body in the back of Brooks’ car and left the vehicle behind a gas station on Harford Road. That’s where police found Brooks’ body.

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