Police await autopsy in drowning

Friday, May 9, 2008

The body of Demetris Lamarr Hall, 26, surfaced in Lake Lariat in the Chesapeake Ranch Estates May 5, two days after his mother reported him missing and three days after he fled into the woods near the lake to evade sheriff’s deputies, according to police.

After he was reported missing, deputies searched the area for him with the help of the Special Operations Team and members of the Solomons Volunteer Rescue Squad and Fire Department, but found no trace of him, according to a sheriff’s office press release.

Divers did not search the lake because the deputies had no reason to believe he had drowned, said Sheriff Mike Evans.

Hall’s cell phone records suggest that he made about eight phone calls after fleeing a home where sheriff’s deputies were investigating a complaint of a loud party. A friend of Hall’s told investigators that he had driven Hall to a ‘‘Blimpie’s” store in Lexington Park after his flight, according to the release.

According to a sheriff’s office press release, Hall was wanted by the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office for child support violations, the release said. Maryland’s judicial database shows a St. Mary’s County judge issued a writ in January ordering law enforcement to bring Hall before the court to address non-payment of child support. The database also showed Hall had convictions for theft and disorderly conduct in St. Mary’s County, and was given a suspended sentence of 179 days in the St. Mary’s County Detention Center for non-payment of child support.

Hall’s mother, Martha Tate, did not return a call seeking comment.