On the morning of December 24, 2021, at about 6:15 a.m., officers from the Maryland State Police and deputies from the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 2900 block of Howell Point Road in Trappe and found 33-year-old Marta Merina outside her home with an apparent gunshot wound. Emergency medical personnel pronounced her deceased at the scene.

The Maryland State Police Homicide Unit opened an investigation and identified a suspect believed to have known Merina. A felony warrant for first-degree murder was issued for 31-year-old Mauricio Ibarra Juarez of Winchester, Virginia; authorities warned he might be armed and traveling in a white GMC Sierra truck.

Juarez was located in Mexico in March 2022 and provisional arrest and extradition proceedings followed; in October 2024 he was returned to Maryland and charged with first- and second-degree murder and related offenses, and is held at the Talbot County Detention Center without bond.

If anyone knew Marta or has information about her death or movements around Howell Point Road that morning, please share what can help the investigation.