The guilty plea implicated his 18-year-old girlfriend, who will be tried on murder and robbery charges in May.
In the opening statements, prosecutors reviewed evidence that led detectives to charge Emily Geller and Artie Ellis for killing Ali Zare, who lived in Gaithersburg, Maryland, a distant suburb of Washington, D.C.
As outlined in court, someone called Zare’s cell phone from Geller’s home at 11:44 p.m., hours after Zare had been killed last May 9. Geller’s fingerprints were found inside the victim’s car. The murder weapon-a shovel-was found in Geller’s home, and the victim’s cellphone was discovered in Ellis’s bedroom. The pair admitted to stealing the victim’s credit cards and money as he lay dying on a bicycle path. Ellis admitted to hitting the victim with a shovel but said he did not intend to kill Zare.
Rene Sandler, Ellis’s attorney said, “He’s extremely remorseful for his actions.”
Ellis made an agreement with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He will receive no more than 25 years in prison and then face the rest of his life on parole. If he is caught breaking any law while on parole, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Good behavior could have Ellis out three years early, which means he could be out before he is 39. “The agreement allows for him to hopefully get some meaningful treatment and return to the community one day,” Sandler said.
The morning after Zare was killed, a jogger found the body on a bicycle path near Potomac, Maryland, a wealthy suburb just north of Washington, D.C.
At 1:35 p.m. that day, someone abandoned the victim’s blue Subaru at a nearby elementary school. Two witnesses said they saw a women get out of the car.
Detectives looked at phone records and learned Zare’s cellphone was still being used two days after his death. At least one call was made to Geller’s telephone number.
Prosecutors said Zare’s phone was found in a backpack in Ellis’s room. Zare’s bank records show someone tried to use one of his credit cards 16 times at ATMs in one day.
Two witnesses will confirm Geller told them her 15-year-old friend hit a man with a shovel. Ellis confirmed this information during police investigations.
“Ellis told investigators that he and Geller lured Mr. Zare into the woods near Geller’s home for the purpose of robbing him,” prosecutor Gerald Collins said in court. Collins went on to say murder wasn’t the intent; however, a shovel blow to the face and the subsequent fall caused the victim to sustain head trauma that resulted in his death.
