Ex-Cop, Kids, Accomplice Died In Apparent Murder-Suicide: Police

SMITHSBURG, MD — Police have confirmed the deaths of a former Baltimore cop, his accomplice, and his two daughters after a four-day manhunt ended in what officials called "an apparent murder and suicide."

Thursday afternoon, Robert Vicosa, 41, Tia Bynum, 35, Giana Vicosa, 7, and Aaminah Vicosa, 6, all of Baltimore, were found in a grey Ford Edge that was stopped in a grassy area off Route 418/Ringgold Road in Smithsburg, Maryland State Police said.

All four individuals appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds, and all but one of the children were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The other child was taken to Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown, where she was pronounced deceased.

Police had been searching for Vicosa since Tuesday, after he reportedly abducted his daughters from his estranged wife in York County, Pennsylvania.

A weeklong manhunt ensued, during which Vicosa and accomplice Tia Bynum, a Baltimore County police sergeant who had been suspended from duty, allegedly carjacked a man in Cockeysville and forced him to drive them around before releasing him unharmed, The Baltimore Sun reported.

Pennsylvania State Police located a car matching the description of Vicosa and Bynum's vehicle shortly before 2:30 p.m. Thursday, police said. The grey Ford Edge was heading south of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, toward the Maryland state line.

Shortly after police attempted a traffic stop, the vehicle veered off the road, struck a culvert and came to a stop in a grassy area off of Route 418/Ringgold Road in Smithsburg.

State police were on scene within seconds of the vehicle stopping, police said, but troopers could not make contact with the suspects in the car — even after a crisis negotiation team repeatedly asked the occupants to get out of the vehicle.

So, troopers from a special tactical assault team attempted to enter the vehicle, police said. When they broke its front passenger side window, they could see that the driver — later identified as Bynum — was "incapacitated with an apparent gunshot wound."

When the troopers were inside the vehicle to check the welfare of the children, they found that all four vehicle occupants appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds.

All the bodies have been taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for autopsies to determine the cause of death, police said.

Bynum was wanted by the Baltimore County Police Department and was considered armed and dangerous, police said, while Vicosa was a wanted fugitive for committing multiple felony crimes in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Police do not yet know a motive for the shooting, though on-scene investigators found an assault rifle and other firearms in the vehicle.

In a tweet Thursday night, Gov. Larry Hogan said Maryland State Police have begun a thorough investigation into the events.

"We are grieving tonight over the unfathomable loss of two innocent children in what is clearly a horrific tragedy and heinous crime," Hogan said.

ABC 27 News reported the last person to see Vicosa alive was Barb Humer, who lives in Red Lion, Pennsylvania.

Vicosa approached Humer while he was wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist, the news station said, as he had just run the car he was driving into a canal on Humer's property.

"I said, 'Here's money, I have money saved.' It wasn't much. I said, 'Take my money. Take the car and just leave,'" Humer told the news station. "He said, 'I don't want your money, and I don't want your car.' He said, 'I just want warm clothes…I'm wet.'"

Humer told the station that she gave him clothes to change into, but he had also requested a rope, which she did not give him.

Vicosa was fired from the Baltimore County Police Department in August, according to WJZ.

Bynum was working for the same department's Criminal Investigations Unit when she was stripped of her police powers because of her suspected role in the kidnapping, PennLive reported.

Related: Ex-Baltimore County Cop, Daughters, Accomplice Found Dead: Report

Like this article? Sign up for our newsletter and get it delivered daily. It's free!