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Wilson Orellana-Lemus Sentenced To Life In Prison For Killing Neighbor, Injuring Her Boyfriend With Baseball Bat

COLUMBIA, Md. (WJZ) -- A 24-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his neighbor and injuring her boyfriend with a baseball bat, the Howard County State's Attorney's Office said Wednesday.

Wilson Orellana-Lemus pleaded guilty to a first-degree murder charge in the death of Amanda Harris. Judge William Tucker sentenced him on Wednesday to life in prison.

wilson orellana-lemus
Wilson Orellana-Lemus. Credit: Howard County State's Attorney's Office

Police officers went to an apartment in the 8800 block of Spiral Cut in Columbia after Harris' family members requested a welfare check. When they arrived, officers found Harris' body in the living room and her boyfriend William Webb injured in the master bedroom, officials said.

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Orellana-Lemus entered the apartment through a window and attacked the couple with a baseball bat before stealing jewelry and Webb's cell phone, police said. Detectives found a baseball bat in the bedroom with Webb.

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Officers used phone records and a cigarette butt that matched a pack of cigarettes at the scene to identify Orellana-Lemus as the suspect.

Amanda Harris and William Webb

Orellana-Lemus was on probation at the time, police said, for another burglary at a nearby home. He spent less than a year behind bars in that case, which the victim told WJZ last year the judge in that case was "too lenient."

She also knew Harris and Webb, calling them "a wonderful family."

"My apartment is located just one block from William and Amanda's. I can't help but feel guilty as well because if a different sentence was given to [Orellana-Lemus] at that time, probably this would not be happening," she said.

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