Ascenzio Lucien Bilello Jr., known as Slanz, was 53 when he was fatally shot on August 21, 2023, while driving a white 2017 Ford Explorer home along Cranesville Road near Muddy Creek Road outside Oakland, Maryland. First responders initially treated the scene as a single-vehicle crash: the Explorer crossed the center line, struck an embankment, crossed back into a field and hit a tree. Bilello was found critically injured and later died at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia.

An examination of the SUV revealed a bullet hole through the passenger-side window and a projectile that struck Bilello in the head, a wound investigators determined had caused him to lose control of the vehicle. Investigators have not publicly identified who fired the shot, where it originated, or why it was fired. The Garrett County Sheriff’s Office and Bilello’s family appealed for information and offered increasing rewards; by early 2026 the potential reward had grown to as much as $50,000 but no arrest or charges had been reported.

Did anyone in the Deep Creek or Cranesville Road area hear or see anything the night of August 21, 2023 that might help identify who fired the fatal shot?