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Michelina Goodwin, 46, was convicted by a jury for the dismemberment murder of 50-year-old James Volodimir Nalborczyk, who was reported missing in December 2022 and later found in pieces across Southern Maryland.
This week, authorities announced that Goodwin was sentenced to 61 years in prison, the maximum allowed by law.
According to Maryland State Police investigators, Goodwin and Larry Murphy, 40, both of Great Mills, were arrested in January last year for their alleged roles in Nalborczyk's death.
Nalborczyk was reported missing to Maryland State Police on Dec. 21, 2022, and the investigation determined that foul play was involved in his sudden disappearance, with Goodwin being identified as the main suspect.
On Jan. 18, 2023, prosecutors say that Goodwin advised investigators that during an altercation at her home, she retrieved a gun and accidentally fired it, striking Nalborczyk - who also lived there - and killing him.
She later admitted that she dismembered Nalborczyk's body following the fatal shooting, and his remains were discarded in remote parts of St. Mary's and Charles counties.
"(Goodwin's) heinous act of shooting the victim in the back pales in comparison to the gruesome details following the murder," St. Mary's County State's Attorney Jaymi Sterling stated. "After killing the victim, (she) dismembered him, and scattered the remains throughout our county and a neighboring county.
"My hope is that the outcome of today's sentencing hearing, the victim’s family can finally find peace, justice, healing, and closure after the horrifying homicide of their beloved family member.”
Goodwin was convicted of second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and the unauthorized disposal of a body.
"This horrifying crime shocked the community and caused unimaginable pain to the victim’s family,” Sterling previously siad.. “Over eight days, the victim’s family and the jury heard the graphic circumstances surrounding the victim’s final moments and gruesome post-mortem mutilation.
"(Goodwin's) gutless decisions deprived the family of a proper burial.”
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