The death of a Germantown man found last week in the woods in Gaithersburg is under investigation as a homicide, Montgomery County police said Monday.
Thirty-five-year-old Delondre Levert Sawyer’s death marks the county’s first homicide of 2024.
On Thursday, Montgomery County’s Emergency Communications Center received a call around 7:08 a.m. reporting an unresponsive person in the woods, police said. Sawyer was found in a wooded area in the 11200 block of Game Preserve Road in Gaithersburg, according to police.
The department’s Major Crimes Division, Homicide Section responded to the scene, and there “appeared to be no trauma to the body,” according to police.
Sawyer’s body was transported to the state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, where an autopsy conducted Feb. 9 revealed a gunshot wound, police said. The manner of death was then ruled a homicide, according to police.
The investigation is ongoing, and no suspects are in custody, police said.
Police urge anyone with information regarding the homicide to visit at www.crimesolversmcmd.org. Police are offering a reward of up to $10,000 for any information that leads to an arrest, and tips can be anonymous.
At this time last year, two homicides had occurred. In 2023, there were 29 total, according to Data Montgomery.