Ardale Tickles is the Baltimore man who, at 19, stabbed 35-year-old Sara Jane Williamson Raras to death at her Elkridge, Maryland, home on November 14, 1998, in a contract killing arranged by her mother-in-law. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in March 2000 and was sentenced to life in prison, to run consecutively with a 25-year sentence he was already serving for an unrelated attempted murder.
Who Ardale Tickles Was
Tickles was a young Baltimore man working at a Baltimore County nursing home, where one of his co-workers was Emilia Domingo Raras, a 63-year-old nurse and native of the Philippines. Emilia’s daughter-in-law, Sara Raras, was a statistician at the National Security Agency and the mother of a 16-month-old boy. Sara and Emilia’s son Lorenzo had separated, and a divorce and custody hearing was set for December 1998. Emilia later told police that Sara had disrespected her, including an incident in which Sara spat in her face, and that she had complained about Sara to co-workers at the nursing home, Tickles among them.
The Killing
On the evening of November 14, 1998, Tickles went to Sara Raras’s home on Meadowfield Court in Elkridge. He smashed a front porch window to get in and stabbed Sara multiple times in the family room. Police and prosecutors later described it as one of the most brutal killings in Howard County’s recent history.1Washington Post. Conviction Was First Step in Raras Case Sara’s young son was not home. Around 8:30 p.m., a friend of Sara’s, Laura Billeter, received a roughly 30-second voicemail that captured the sounds of the struggle.2Oxygen. Emilia Raras Has Daughter-in-Law Sara Killed Over Disrespect Sara’s body was found the next day after a welfare check.3Baltimore Sun. Slain Woman Described as Dedicated Mother, NSA Worker
Investigators initially questioned Sara’s estranged husband, Lorenzo Raras, and searched his car and his parents’ home. The case then went cold for months.
How Tickles Was Caught
By the summer of 1999, Tickles was locked up in the Baltimore County Detention Center on an unrelated attempted-murder charge. He had been convicted of trying to kill his former boss at a Baltimore McDonald’s and was serving a 25-year sentence.4Washington Post. Mother-in-Law Convicted in Plot A fellow inmate, 25-year-old Edison Michael George, told Baltimore County police that Tickles had confessed to a murder.5Baltimore Sun. Jailhouse Tape Tells of Killing
At the suggestion of Baltimore County Detective Philip Marll, George wore a wire and drew Tickles back into the subject. On the recording, Tickles described the victim pleading for her life and graphically recounted how he killed her.6Washington Post. Court Hears Jailhouse Tape in 1998 Slaying Howard County Detective Nathan Rettig recognized the details as matching the unsolved Raras case.7FindLaw. Raras v. State
Rettig arrested Tickles on August 24, 1999. During questioning, Tickles made incriminating statements about himself and Emilia Raras, and Emilia was arrested the same day.
The Physical Evidence Against Him
A former friend of Tickles, Tanisha Hodge, became a key witness. She testified that Tickles told her a co-worker was paying him $2,000 to $3,000 “to be an assassin and kill a woman in the suburbs.”8Baltimore Sun. Raras Stunned by Conviction in Homicide Hodge said she rented a car for Tickles on the day of the murder and that he returned it a few hours later in a “hyper state” with blood on his boots. The two drove to a park in northeast Baltimore and burned the boots.
After the arrests in August 1999, Hodge led investigators to the park. They recovered a heel from one of the charred boots, and it matched a bloody boot print found on the floor of Sara Raras’s home.
What He Was Paid
According to Emilia Raras’s own statements to police, she described the victim to Tickles, gave him Sara’s home address, and paid him in two installments: $300 to $400 first, then $2,000.9Court of Special Appeals of Maryland. Raras v. State, No. 474, Sept. Term 2000 Prosecutors put the total at roughly $3,000. Bank records introduced at trial showed Emilia withdrew $2,500 in cash shortly after the murder, followed by several cash deposits into Tickles’ bank account.8Baltimore Sun. Raras Stunned by Conviction in Homicide
Emilia said she never intended for Sara to be killed, telling detectives she thought Tickles was only going to “stone the house” as revenge. Tickles, when he later pleaded guilty, admitted the killing was a contract job.
Guilty Plea and Sentence
Tickles was charged with first-degree murder. On March 13, 2000, the day jury selection for his trial was set to begin, he pleaded guilty in Howard County Circuit Court. He admitted he had been paid between $2,000 and $3,000 to carry out the killing.10Baltimore Sun. Baltimorean Pleads Guilty to Killing Elkridge Woman His attorney, Samuel Truette, argued for a sentence short of life without parole.
Howard County Circuit Judge Dennis Sweeney sentenced Tickles to life in prison, leaving open the possibility of future parole. The life sentence runs consecutively with the 25-year term Tickles was already serving for the earlier attempted murder.11Washington Post. Hired Killer Gets Life Sentence in Murder Plot
What Happened to Emilia Raras
Emilia Raras went to trial in Howard County Circuit Court in late January and early February 2000, with Judge Sweeney presiding. Prosecutors used the jailhouse tape of Tickles, the bank records, the boot-print match, and testimony from Hodge and Emilia’s co-workers. Defense attorney Clarke F. Ahlers argued that Emilia never wanted Sara dead and that Tickles was a “sociopath” who “decided on his own to kill the woman.”12Washington Post. Woman Denies Murder Plot
On February 4, 2000, the jury convicted Emilia of first-degree murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder and acquitted her of conspiracy. At sentencing on April 18, 2000, Judge Sweeney called her “an evil person who has committed the most evil of deeds” and imposed life without the possibility of parole for the murder, with a concurrent life term for the solicitation.13Baltimore Sun. Grandmother Gets Life Term for Murder The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland affirmed her convictions on May 31, 2001.
Lorenzo Raras, the victim’s estranged husband and Emilia’s son, was never charged. Emilia told detectives he knew nothing about her plan. Their young son was placed in the care of an advocacy center and was to be returned to Lorenzo.