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CommunityLittle girl calls 911 after mother’s murder
Police: Man strangled Waldorf 23-year-old
Friday, May 16, 2008
 Click here to enlarge this photo Louis Stanley Leysath III
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Police were called to the Huntington Apartments of St. Charles — more commonly known as Gallery Place — at 10:24 p.m. for the report of trouble in an apartment.
The caller, who police said was the victim’s young daughter, said a woman was not breathing.
Once there, they found Jasmine Nicole Clark, 23.
The mother of two daughters, Clark had a ligature — according to charging documents it was a belt — tight around her neck and was unresponsive.
Clark’s 7-year-old daughter made the 911 call before fleeing the apartment to the safety of a neighbor’s.
The discovery of Clark, who worked at an elementary school in Prince George’s County, came on the heels of a call to police from the parents of Louis Stanley Leysath III.
According to reports, Leysath was at his parents’ home on Westdale Court in Waldorf around 10:18 p.m. acting disorderly and apparently under the influence of drugs.
He was taken to Civista Medical Center in La Plata for evaluation.
Around the same time, Clark was found in her apartment.
She was taken to Civista as well where she was pronounced dead, prompting detectives to launch a murder investigation.
It didn’t take long to link Leysath to the crime, according to reports.
Investigation revealed that Clark’s daughters – 7 and 3 – were in the Gallery Place apartment with their mother when she and Leysath began arguing.
The fight was over Leysath’s use of Clark’s car, police reported.
Clark’s older daughter heard the argument during which Leysath allegedly threatened to choke Clark if she didn’t give him the keys.
Later, the child saw him leave the apartment with the keys in his hand, police reported.
She went into her mother’s bedroom and found her lying on the floor, not breathing, with the belt around her neck.
After calling 911 to summon help, the child fled to a neighbor’s house. Officers arrived on the scene and learned of Leysath and Clark’s relationship, which led to Leysath’s arrest.
The children were not physically injured during the incident and are currently in the care of a relative, police said.
‘‘This incident is isolated and detectives were able to make an arrest very quickly,” said Kristen Timko, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office is working with American Community Properties Trust, the apartment’s management firm to ensure the residents feel safe in their homes, Timko said.
‘‘This includes making sure [the sheriff’s office] victim services personnel are available to residents who would like help finding counseling,” Timko added.
A friend of Clark who asked to be identified only as Christine said she was stunned to hear about the murder. Friends for about three years, Christine sent Clark a text message Thursday morning after hearing about the incident at Gallery Place, hoping her friend was all right.
‘‘She was a sweet person,” Christine said.
‘‘She was the kind of person that was wise beyond her years ... everybody went to her for advice. I know it sounds cliché, but she was always happy, always smiling, funny. And she was such a strong person.”
Once Leysath was released from Civista, he was taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder and first- and second-degree assault. He is being held in the county jail pending an appearance before the district court commissioner.
Detective G. Higgs will continue the investigation.
This is the county’s second homicide this year. In March, Austin Demetrius Brown, 37, was found shot to death in his Indian Head home. Brown’s case continues to be investigated.
