2 women arrested in connection with alleged matricide

Police in Ohio on Wednesday arrested a woman and her girlfriend who are both charged with first-degree murder in the death of Hilde Henderson, 67, of Silver Spring.

Montgomery County Police on Thursday said police in Genoa, Ohio, arrested Henderson’s daughter, Vanessa Wahanganisa Tjongarero-Henderson, 29, of Clarksburg, and her girlfriend, Samantha Raebel, 36, of Phoenix, Arizona.

A tipster recognized the women from media coverage and a Montgomery County Police Department news release, police said.

Detectives believe Henderson was killed on May 22.

Officers on May 26 were dispatched to the Charter House, a complex in downtown Silver Spring for people 55 and older, for a welfare check. They found Henderson dead.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and determined that Henderson died of blunt force trauma and ruled her death a homicide.

Montgomery County Police received tips from several states after launching a nationwide search, with media coverage in Ohio, Nashville and Phoenix.

Tjongarero-Henderson and Raebel are now being held at the Ottawa County Detention Center, awaiting extradition to Maryland.