Police identify woman whose body was found in tractor-trailer
Frederick County MD. September 27, 2023
The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office said the woman whose body was found in a tractor-trailer at the Costco Distribution Center in Monrovia on Sunday was a New Jersey resident.
Candice Thompson, 46, lived in Sicklersville, N.J., the sheriff’s office said in a press release on Monday.
Matthew Sidney Watley, 46, also of Sicklersville, the tractor-trailer driver, has been charged with murdering Thompson.
The sheriff’s office has not released details of the circumstances that led to Thompson’s death.
The office did, however, describe deputies’ response to the distribution center on Sunday morning and a confrontation they allegedly had with Watley.
Deputies were dispatched to the center at 1:31 a.m. Sunday after someone reported that a truck driver seemed to be under the influence and broke the window of his own tractor.
Watley was in the driver’s seat of his tractor, which was running. The sheriff’s office said he was argumentative and didn’t want to speak with deputies.
Deputies put stop strips that deflate tires in front of and behind his tractor. Authorities said Watley attempted to flee, hitting the stop sticks. There was a slow-speed pursuit in the Costco distribution lot, until Watley stopped at the exit lane of the Costco.
He refused to get out of the tractor and remained confrontational, prompting deputies to pepper-spray him through his window, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies then broke a window on the tractor, entered, and used a stun gun on Watley to detain him.
The sheriff’s office said Thompson’s body was found on the floorboard.
Watley was charged with first- and second-degree murder.
He remained at Frederick Health Hospital, under security, on Monday while he received medical treatment.
