Baltimore police search for ‘coward and scum’ who fatally stabbed 69-year-old woman in her church

A 69-year-old retiree was found stabbed to death inside the Maryland church where she was a longtime volunteer, police said.

Around 6 a.m. Nov. 16, Evelyn Player texted her daughter, Alethea Finch, after arriving at Baltimore’s Southern Baptist Church to let contractors inside to do scheduled work. “I’m here. Have a great day. Love you,” she wrote, according to the Baltimore Sun.

An employee discovered Player murdered in the building’s bathroom around 7:20 a.m.

“Who would want to hurt my mother?” asked Finch. “How could someone hurt someone in such a sacred place? … My heart’s broken into a million pieces. I don’t understand why this happened.”

“A dedicated member and staff member of Southern Baptist, one of our anchor faith institutions in Baltimore had her life taken in the church by a coward and scum,” Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott said. “Her family is four generations strong at Southern, and all of our hearts should be with them. We all should be looking to help; that's the truth.”

“I don't care if this person is your son, your husband, your boyfriend, your daughter, your uncle, your aunt — you should turn this person in,” Scott continued, adding he’s confident homicide detectives “will absolutely close this case.”

Rev. Donte L. Hickman said Player had been “everybody’s friend” at the 4,000-member church over at least the past 50 years.“You could always find her holding conversation with anybody that passed through the doors.”

Anyone with information related to the murder is asked to call homicide detectives at (410) 396-2100 or Metro Crime Stoppers at (866) 7-LOCKUP.