Homeless Man Stabbed to Death by 14 and 13-Year-Old During Robbery in Adelphi

Wyn Delano
WMAL.com

ADELPHI (WMAL) — Prince Georges county police arrested two teens this morning after they allegedly stabbed a homeless man to death during a botched robbery in the woods around Adelphi.

Police found the body of the Francisco Sagastizado, the homeless man, around the 8 o’clock hour Thursday morning, after being given reports of an “unresponsive male” at 8:10 AM.

One of the teens knew the victim according to Prince Georges County Police Spokesman Tyler Hunter – which makes it all the stranger as to why they would attempt to rob a homeless man.

Cpl. Hunter also noted a curious legal situation in the case,

“The way [Maryland] law is written is why our detectives were able to charge that 14-year-old with first and second degree murder.

And that same law is why police also released his photo, which can be seen above and name: Elias Portillo.

The 13-year-old, however will be tried as a juvenile and have all of the protections therein, even though he is also facing the same charges.

“The motive for this was a robbery, the suspects demanded money from the victim…when the victim was unable to comply with that the two teenagers very quickly resulted [sic] to fatally stabbing the victim,” Cpl. Hunter said.

Hunter also said that the stabbing had “nothing to link this incident at all” to gang activity.

He added that he was unaware of the teens’ current immigration status.