Background: The police went to the location where Taresha Pendarvis was murdered in February 2023. Picture on the right shows Taresha. Inset: Dennis Hinnant Jr.'s booking photo courtesy of Maryland State’s Attorney’s Office.
A year ago, Dennis Hinnant Jr. entered a Maryland police station with his child, told them he knew something bad had happened at his house, and said he would talk only if given a cigarette.
“I know you're not letting me leave without a cigarette,” he said, as stated in charging documents.
This week, a jury found Hinnant, 29, guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his wife Taresha Pendarvis, 28. The Maryland man from Silver Spring faces up to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced on July 18, according to the Maryland State’s Attorney’s Office announced last Friday.
Maryland State’s Attorney John McCarthy said the maximum penalty was appropriate.
“We remain dedicated to aggressively prosecuting domestic violence in any form,” McCarthy said.
Hinnant, visibly “distraught,” walked into the Rockville City police station holding his child on Feb. 1, 2023, a statement of charges obtained by Law&Crime shows. Police said right away he began to speak to officers in the lobby and though he began to answers preliminary questions about “an incident” that had brought him in on his own volition, he wasn’t immediately placed under arrest.
But during an interview with one officer, police said Hinnant insisted that he would provide information if he had a chance to smoke a cigarette.
“Hinnant insisted he wanted to smoke a cigarette but he was advised that no one currently working had a cigarette. Hinnant stated if he was provided a cigarette, he would give a location of the incident. At this point, Hinnant was not in police custody and [was] advised he was free to leave at any time,” a statement of charges notes.
That changed in short order. Police said once Hinnant began to offer up details, they were told to go to Lanier Drive in Silver Spring and check on the welfare of the occupant inside.
There, police found the body of Pendarvis. She had been strangled with a belt and was laying in the bathtub. She had also been stabbed multiple times.
Hinnant was promptly arrested. While in custody, he told police that he and Pendarvis were married and that they had been fighting “over a potential divorce.” The argument, he said, “boiled over.”
“At some point, Pendarvis threw Hinnant’s medicine and clothing away. Hinnant then stated that it went south, and he feels like they both blacked out. Hinnant also stated that he f—– up,” the statement of charges notes.
The child was removed from Hinnant’s custody immediately, the state’s attorney’s office said, and was not harmed.
An attorney for Hinnant did not immediately respond to request for comment on Monday. He remains in detention prior to sentencing.
A member of the Pendarvis family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.