A man was convicted Tuesday by a Montgomery County jury in Circuit Court of stabbing a man to death in Germantown nearly two years ago.
Justin Andrew Wilson, now 27, of Germantown, was charged with killing Egidio Ienzi, 63, of Germantown on July 23, 2020, according to authorities.
A female family member of Ienzi told authorities that she was sleeping that day and awoke when she heard Ienzi yelling, according to charging documents. When she went downstairs, she saw Wilson and Ienzi in a physical struggle, and Wilson was holding a large, fixed-blade knife, according to police. She went to her room, hid in the closet and called 911.
When officers got to the home, they found that Ienzi had been stabbed 13 times, according to authorities. He was taken to Suburban Hospital in Bethesda and died of his injuries, police said.
After the killing, a male family member of Iezni identified Wilson as the suspect after viewing surveillance footage, according to documents. The male family member told authorities that he was friends with Wilson, and that a few weeks earlier Wilson had been at the house with him, according to documents. The family member told Wilson that Ienzi, who was not home at the time, was at a casino and gambled frequently, and that there were safes in the home. After Wilson’s visit, Ienzi told the male family member that around 25 silver coins with plastic coverings were missing from the home, according to authorities.
Wilson was arrested in Virginia a few days after the killing and later extradited to Montgomery County, where he was charged with first-degree murder, police said at the time.
On Tuesday, jury found Wilson guilty of the murder charge before Judge Sharon Burrell, the State’s Attorney’s Office announced. State’s Attorney John McCarthy, in a statement, called the killing “every homeowner’s worst nightmare.”
“The victim in this case was described by friends and neighbors as an honest, hard-working man, a decent person who worked hard his entire life and was targeted inside his own home,” he said in the statement.
Wilson’s attorney Adam Harris, told Bethesda Beat on Tuesday that they had argued in court that it was a manslaughter case, and not a murder case.
“It’s a shame for the Ienzi family and it’s a shame for Mr. Wilson,” he said.
Wilson is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 22.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@bethesdda-remix.newspackstaging.com