Man Kills Himself In Jail After Life Sentence For Murder

BOYDS, MD — A Silver Spring man who was sentenced to life in prison Monday for the fatal stabbing of his pregnant girlfriend was found dead in his jail cell on the Fourth of July, Montgomery County Police said.

Thierry Kinshala Nkusu, 33, who is a native of Congo, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Monday for the April 2016 slaying of Maria Veronica Mbunga, 36, who was five months pregnant.

Police said Nkusu was found unresponsive in his cell at the Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation during a routine check shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday.

He hanged himself and left several handwritten suicide notes, police said. Correctional staff began life-saving efforts and summoned Fire and Rescue personnel, but Nkusu was unable to be revived, police said.

Nkusu was found guilty of the murder that occurred in the 600 block of Houston Ave. in Takoma Park at about 2 p.m. April 27, 2016.

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Nkusu was found injured near an elevator near the lobby, while officers located Mbunga with multiple stab wounds in an apartment. She was stabbed in her stomach, neck and chest, police said.

After he was taken to the hospital, it was determined that Nkusu had superficial knife wounds that did not correlate with what he told police had occurred; he did not require surgery.

Nkusu was then taken into custody.

"There's a blood trail in the crime scene that showed she struggled from the bathroom to the bedroom to the living room, trying to make her escape," Montgomery County State's Attorney's spokesman Ramon Korionoff said, according to NBC Washington.

Mbunga and her unborn child died at the hospital. She worked as a bus driver for Montgomery County Public Schools, police said.

(Photo of Nkusu, Mbunga via MCPD)