Md. Woman Conspired with Her Twin Sister to Murder Their Brother

Leaundra Matthews was sentenced to 25 years in prison after authorities say she conspired with her boyfriend and twin sister to murder her brother

A woman from Maryland has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after authorities say she conspired with her boyfriend and twin sister to kill her brother in 2017.

According to ABC 7, Leaundra Matthews was sentenced on Monday after her 17-year-old brother Christian Matthews was strangled to death in his sleep in 2017. According to Fox 5, Leaundra's boyfriend, Tysean Lipford, strangled Christian while another man, Daniel Howard, allegedly held him down.

Fox 5 also reported that text messages between Leaundra and Lipford linked her to her brother’s murder. She also allegedly admitted to being involved in the murder to her mother and aunt. Leaundra was convicted of second-degree murder in August, WUSA 9 reports.

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According to ABC 7, court officials say Leaundra's sister, Lemae Matthews, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder in October 2021. She has not yet been sentenced.

Leaundra, who shares a child with Lipford and was pregnant with another at the time of the murder, allegedly told Lipford that Christian had threatened her and their child and that "he had to go," Fox 5 reports, citing charging documents.

Lipford was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in 2017. In 2019 he was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 30 years.

According to a 2017 statement from the Montgomery County Police Department, police were called on March 21, 2017, at 2:25 am to the Matthews’ residence after receiving a report of a loud commotion from the basement, which was where Christian lived.

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The Matthews sisters asked officers to search the home, leading to them finding Christian unresponsive in his basement bedroom.

He was then pronounced dead after being transported to a local hospital. Officers also found suspicious marks on Christian’s neck.

“After four years of intense investigative work, probable cause was developed to charge the Matthews sisters, and Daniel Juwan Howard with first-degree murder,” Montgomery County Police Department’s statement read at the time.

Howard's trial is scheduled for April 2024, Fox 5 reports. Lemae will be sentenced after Howard's trial concludes.

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