Carl Dennis Kearney, Jr. in mugshot (L); Patrina Sharmaine Best (R).Photo:Prince George’s County Police Department; Patrina Best/Facebook
Prince George’s County Police Department; Patrina Best/Facebook
The high school football coachwalked intothe Maryland police station Saturday night to report a crime.
In what police called his “detailed account of what transpired,” Kearney allegedly told the officers at the Division V Clinton Police Station that he slapped his girlfriend’s face in order to “bring her back.”
Kearney allegedly told police that when she did not come to, he fled the residence and drove to Virginia in her car, but that he had returned to Prince George’s County to report the incident.
Carl Dennis Kearney, Jr. in 2022 in the Spalding High School weight room, where he worked as a head coach starting in 2020.Griffin Spalding County Schools
Griffin Spalding County Schools
Twelve minutes after Kearney walked into the station, Prince George’s County Police Officers arrived at the address to conduct a welfare check.
There, they found Patrina Sharmaine Best, 38, “unresponsive in the basement,” per the statement of probable cause. She was pronounced dead at 9:50 p.m. Saturday.
Patrina Sharmaine Best.Patrina Best/Facebook
Patrina Best/Facebook
The Accokeek, Md., murder case has not yet gone to a grand jury, his lawyer, Catherine Woolley, tells PEOPLE. In a routine hearing in the District Court for Prince George’s County, which temporarily oversees criminal cases that have just entered the system, Kearney pleaded not guilty to the charges through his lawyer on Tuesday.
Kearney was a decorated coach at Spalding High School in Griffin, Ga., who helped lead his team to its first regional title in 20 years in 2023.
The school has declined comment on the case.
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Carl Dennis Kearney, Jr. in mugshot, Feb. 2024.Prince George’s County Police Department
Prince George’s County Police Department
Best was a licensed registered nurse who studied kinesiology at Georgia Southern University,TheWashingtonPostreports.
“Our hearts are broken,” the neighbor toldThe Post. “He was a monster.”
If indicted, the case will proceed to the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, where Kearney plans to plead not guilty once again, Woolley says.
source: people.com
