ST. MARY’S COUNTY, Md. (TCN) — A 46-year-old woman will spend more than six decades in prison for fatally shooting her boyfriend, mutilating his remains, and scattering them in two different counties.
The St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney’s Office announced Aug. 5 that Michelina Goodwin received the maximum allowable sentence of 61 years in prison in connection with the death and dismemberment of a man, identified by WTTG-TV as her boyfriend, 50-year-old James Volodimir Nalborczyk. A jury convicted Goodwin in March of second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and the unauthorized disposal of a body.
According to prosecutors, family members reported the victim missing on Dec. 21, 2022, after they had last heard from him earlier that month. Several weeks later, officials determined Nalborczyk was a victim of a homicide, and they identified Goodwin as the primary suspect.
On Jan. 18, 2023, Goodwin reportedly told authorities that during a dispute at their home, she grabbed a firearm and it accidentally went off, killing the victim. The State’s Attorney’s office said Goodwin confessed to dismembering Nalborczyk, and she guided authorities to his remains in remote areas in St. Mary’s and Charles counties.
In a statement, State’s Attorney Jaymi Sterling said, “The defendant’s heinous act of shooting the victim in the back pales in comparison to the gruesome details following the murder. After killing the victim, the defendant dismembered him, and scattered his remains throughout our county and a neighboring county.”