Jury Convicts 19-Year-Old in Gwynn Oak Double Murder that Left Kids Alone with Bodies; State to Seek Life Without Parole

A Baltimore County jury took just two hours Tuesday to find 19-year-old Markie Cole guilty of shooting and killing a young couple in their apartment, leaving a baby and toddler alone with the bodies for nearly a full day.

The jury found Cole, of Baltimore, guilty of all charges against him, including two counts of first-degree murder, vehicle theft and firearm offenses. The State intends to seek a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

Daryle “Bry” Carter, 18, and his girlfriend, Angel Price, 23, were found dead, slumped together on the kitchen floor of their Gwynn Oak apartment Jan. 11, 2025. Carter had been shot once in the top of the head. Price had been shot once in the mouth.

Price’s infant son and toddler daughter had been alone in the apartment for 21 hours but were physically unharmed. When Carter’s mother discovered the bodies, the little girl was covered in blood.

“Mr. Cole made sure the only witnesses to this heinous crime were not people who would talk about it,” Assistant State’s Attorney Felise Kelly told jurors in closing arguments. “The only witnesses to the murder of their mother and her boyfriend were a 2-year-old and 5-month-old who was sitting in a swing, facing the kitchen where the shooting took place.”

After the verdict was read, Cole looked toward his supporters in the courtroom and shrugged. He gave them a thumbs up as sheriff’s deputies led him away.

Cole had accompanied Price and Carter that day as Price made deliveries for Instacart and DoorDash. Around 9 p.m., video from a neighbor’s Blink camera showed the three entering the apartment on Aurora Lane. The toddler playfully hopped around as the door was unlocked, while Price carried the baby in his car carrier.

A neighbor reported hearing a loud “bang” that night. Cole left alone about 90 minutes after entering the apartment and was recorded driving away in Price’s Ford Taurus, which police later found near his girlfriend’s Baltimore City home.

The .45-caliber handgun used in the shootings was never recovered.

Jurors heard evidence that Cole’s cellphone was turned off around 7 p.m., before the three returned to the apartment, and turned back on a few minutes after he drove away in Price’s car. Cole also was seen carrying soda bottles under his arms as he entered the apartment. Kelly suggested he carried them that way to avoid leaving fingerprints.

Cole’s attorneys maintained he was not the killer and sought to cast suspicion on Price’s ex-boyfriend, who is the father of her children and who lived in the same apartment complex.

The children’s father had gotten drunk and made a scene in November 2024, kicking the apartment door and threatening to kill Carter. He was charged with burglary, and Price obtained a protective order against him.

He contacted police the day after the bodies were found and allowed investigators to take his DNA and conduct a forensic search of his cellphone. Police eliminated him as a suspect after a month-long investigation. He is now raising their two children.

Defense attorney Tim Bahr didn’t dispute that Cole was the person seen in the videos.

“Just because he’s there doesn’t mean he committed murder,” Bahr told jurors.

Instead, he asked jurors to consider who had a motive to kill the couple. He suggested Price’s ex-boyfriend could have climbed the back of the building and entered the third-floor apartment through a sliding glass door. Kelly pointed out that police found the sliding door locked when they arrived.

Bahr argued that the children’s father was jealous that Price was with another man and possibly wanted to thwart the charges filed against him in November. The charges against him were dropped after Price died.

“There’s motive there. There’s anger. There’s passion. There's a relationship,” Bahr said. "He threatened to kill Daryle Carter, and we're going to ignore that?"

Bahr reminded jurors that the ex-boyfriend drove past the scene the night the bodies were discovered and drove away after a police officer pulled her gun and ordered him to stop.

The man testified that he didn’t stop because he did not believe the police activity had anything to do with him and, at the time, did not know it involved his children’s mother.

Kelly told the jury that it wasn't clear why Cole committed the murders.

“We may never know why he executed those two people and left those two kids alone,” Kelly said, adding that perhaps it was to steal the car. Prosecutors were not required to prove a motive, she said, and the evidence showed Cole killed the couple, even if it didn't show why.

“Every piece of evidence in this case points to the defendant,” Kelly said.

Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 4.