Man convicted of mother's killing

View larger image Edward Allen Kline Jr. Recommend This Print This Get E-mail News Alerts Buy Photos/Page Reprints

Kline gets 10-year prison term with five suspended and credit for time served

By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- A matricide case that began as Frederick County dug out of a blizzard in 2010 ended Thursday with the victim's son pleading guilty to his mother's slaying.
While Edward A. "Eddie" Kline Jr. seemed to get along with Margaret M. Landis, authorities surmised that argument over a vehicle spurred the man to kill his mother, Commonwealth's Attorney Glenn Williamson said.

The case hinged on circumstantial evidence, Williamson said at Kline's plea hearing and sentencing in Frederick County Circuit Court.

Kline, 34, formerly of 1257 N. Timber Ridge Road, appeared with his attorneys and entered an agreement under which he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and received a 10-year prison term with five years suspended. Kline also received credit for the year spent in the Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center. Kline must serve five years of supervised probation and then five years of unsupervised probation upon his release.

"I'd rather not say anything at this time," Kline said when asked by the judge if wanted to make a statement.

The agreement reached between the commonwealth and his attorneys, David Hensley and J. David Black, called for Kline to enter the plea under Alford v. North Carolina, by which the defendant maintains his innocence but acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict him.

Authorities had charged Kline with first-degree murder, which can carry a maximum term of life in prison. Voluntary manslaughter, a class 5 felony, carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison or up to 12 months in jail plus a $2,500 fine.

Landis, 62, called her job on Feb. 9, 2010, to let them know she could not make it to work because of the snowstorm, according to Williamson. That was the last time Landis was heard from. As neighbors began to dig out of the snow seven days later, Kline walked from his home to his mother's, went inside and called 911 when he discovered her body.

As Williamson described, investigators found Landis lying in her bed and she appeared undisturbed while sleeping.

A medical examiner's autopsy report showed Landis died from a puncture wound made with a thin, sharp object through the lower part of the throat and into the aorta that caused her to die from internal bleeding, Williamson said. The victim also had several more shallow, non-fatal puncture wounds in her abdomen, according to the prosecutor.

Landis likely had been dead for three to seven days before her body was found, he said.

Authorities found no sign of forced entry, no items missing and a small safe undisturbed, Williamson said. Investigators searched for any tracks around Landis' home and found only the path through the snow to Kline's house, Williamson said.

Investigators recovered an ice pick from her home and other items. Beyond that piece, investigators turned up circumstantial evidence, Williamson said. DNA found under Landis' fingernails did not match Kline's and could have come from a number of sources by virtue of her job with a cleaning business, he said.

Authorities surmised Kline spent his time drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, the prosecutor said. When Kline ran out of beer and cigarettes and needed to borrow his mother's vehicle, Landis refused and the son reacted violently, Williamson said.

Authorities found in Landis' home a telephone number to a local Alcoholics Anonymous group she likely called out of concern for her son, the prosecutor said.

"There was no conflict between the defendant and his mother," Williamson said. "They got along well."

A former girlfriend who lived with Kline told investigators the defendant spoke to his mother daily, Williamson noted.

Kline cooperated with investigators from the beginning, Williamson and Hensley noted.

Kline took a polygraph test and spent nearly 30 hours in interviews with investigators, Williamson said.

Kline has professed his innocence "hundreds of times," Hensley said, even as indicated when a funeral director wore a wire while he talked to the defendant.

Hensley said the prosecution has "not a shred of DNA evidence" linking his client to the murder but found the agreement to be in the defendant's best interest.