Man from Florida charged in a second woman’s cold-case murder, Maryland cops say
One month after a man from Florida was charged in one woman’s cold-case murder, he faces murder charges in connection with a second woman’s death 16 years after her body was found in Maryland, state police say.
In 2006, a driver discovered a murdered woman, who died from blunt force trauma and stabbing, along I-70 near a rest stop in Maryland, according to state police. A pair of dragon tattoos on her back helped identify her as Dusty Myriah Shuck, 24, of New Mexico after she was last seen at a local hotel in her home state.
Shuck’s murder case remained cold for over a decade — until Maryland state police received a call from a sheriff’s office in Michigan on Aug. 17 about a suspect identified in a 1996 cold-case murder of a Michigan woman, a Sept. 19 news release says.
Now Garry Artman, 64, of White Springs, Florida, faces charges in connection with Shuck’s 2006 death after his DNA linked him to the earlier cold-case, according to the release.
Information for Artman’s defense attorney was not provided by authorities.
Artman was arrested in connection to Sharon Hammack’s 1996 murder in Michigan by detectives working for the Kent County Sheriff’s Office, according to an Aug. 19 Facebook post from the sheriff’s office. Hammock was “sexually assaulted and strangled to death.”
In 2008, Hammock and Shuck’s deaths were linked after a search of the national Combined DNA Index System returned an “unknown DNA match,” Maryland state police say. However, “without a known DNA profile match at the time, the investigation remained open.”
Due to advancements in technology, Artman’s DNA was ultimately found to be connected with Hammack’s death, according to the Kent County Sheriff’s Office.
As a result, sheriff’s office detectives located Artman in Mississippi and arrested him in the state before he was extradited to Michigan, the office says.
Afterward, investigators gave Maryland state police Artman’s DNA, confirming his connection to Shuck’s murder, according to state police.
Now the Kent County Sheriff’s Office and Maryland state police are analyzing several pairs of women’s underwear found in a Florida storage unit believed to be Artman’s following the execution of a search warrant, state police say.
The “underwear were seized for biological evidence to determine whether there are other victims,” according to the release.
Authorities in Maryland and Michigan are working together in their ongoing investigation of Artman, the release says.
This story was originally published September 19, 2022 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Man from Florida charged in a second woman’s cold-case murder, Maryland cops say."
.jpg)