Missing Maryland Women: Police, FBI Searching For Women Connected To Suspects In West Virginia Murder Case

Maryland Police and FBI said Tuesday they were searching for two women missing for nearly a month that shared reported ties to suspects in the murder of a 33-year-old Maryland resident Jonathan Riddle in West Virginia. The women, identified as Heather Grogg, 33, and Danielle Tyler, 18, are suspected to be traveling together and in danger.

The women were last reportedly seen on April 6 in Carroll County, Maryland.

“Since the initial missing person reports were taken by the Maryland State Police, Danielle Tyler and Heather Grogg have been considered to be critically missing and in danger,” Maryland State Police spokesperson Greg Shipley told the Carroll County Times. “We cannot be more specific about why we believe this, due to the impact the release of investigative information at this time could have on ongoing investigations.”

Riddle’s body was found ablaze on March 18 near Rippon, West Virginia, after a local resident spotted a pool of blood on the road that led to Riddle. While the body was on fire, a local medical examiner said Riddle was killed from multiple stab wounds and blows to the head before his body was lit on fire.

The first two suspects identified in the case were Westminster, Maryland, residents David Sanford Jr., 26, and Monroe Merrell, 22. Court documents said Riddle had gone to Sanford’s home on March 17 to allegedly meet with Grogg, who was friends with Riddle and was working as a live-in babysitter for Sanford’s children.

Merrell was reportedly present at the time, along with a third suspect identified as 22-year-old John Black III.

Riddle allegedly got into an argument with Merrell after arriving, which escalated to Merrell and Sanford stabbing Riddle before binding his hands and feet. The three then drove Riddle to Rippon, where Black allegedly stabbed Riddle before the three dumped his body and set him on fire.

Sanford and Merrell were arrested on April 9, with the latter being found in Virginia, Beach, Virginia, and awaiting extradition. Black was arrest on April 15 in Taneytown, Maryland. All three are being charged with murder and kidnapping.

A fourth suspect was identified as Emily Day, 27, who was arrested in Westminster and charged as an accessory in the case. Day was reportedly in a relationship with Sanford around the time Riddle was killed.

“I worry that maybe if she witnessed this or if she knows too much that’s why she’s in critical danger,” Grogg’s sister, Brandie Hebb, said. “It’s not like her to drop off the face of the earth.”

Hebb said the last contact she had with her sister was on April 3. She said Grogg seemed worried about something at the time and wanted to meet. However, Hebb told her they should wait due to standing shelter-in-place orders from the quarantine pandemic.

Tyler’s own connection in the case was with Merrell, whom she was reportedly dating at the time. Her grandmother, Sherry Tyler, said the two had been dating since March after her granddaughter had broken up with her ex-boyfriend of two years and spending less time at home.

The last contact the two had was a text exchange on April 6.

“She texted me and said, ‘MeMaw, I think I’m going to turn my phone off for a bit. I’m just tired of the drama,’” Sherry Tyler told Dateline. “I told her that wasn’t a good idea because I needed to stay in touch with her. She knows how much I worry.”

Sherry Tyler said Maryland State Police contacted her shortly after asking about her granddaughter’s whereabouts and filed a missing person’s report at their encouragement.

“I love her more than life itself,” Sherry Tyler told Oxygen. “All she has to do is reach out and I will be there.”

Grogg is 5-foot-2 and 175 pounds, with red-blonde hair, blue eyes, and a piercing on the right side of her bottom lip.

Danielle Tyler is 5-foot-3 and 110 pounds, with blonde hair, green eyes, and has snake bite piercings on her lower lip and small nose rings on each nostril.