A Silver Spring man was sentenced to 23 years in prison Friday in connection with the 2017 strangulation death of a 17-year-old boy, according to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Daniel Howard, 29, pleaded guilty June 27 to second-degree murder in the March 21, 2017, death of Christian Matthews, also of Silver Spring, according to a statement from the state’s attorney’s office.
Judge John Maloney of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County sentenced Howard to an additional five years of supervised probation upon release, according to the statement. Howard will receive credit for three years he has already served.
Howard’s attorney, Roland Harris, did not immediately respond to MoCo360’s request for comment Monday afternoon.
Howard is the third co-defendant to be tried in the case after Christian Matthews’ sister, Leaundra Matthews, 26, of Prince George’s County was convicted of second-degree murder in August 2023 and sentenced to 25 years in prison in February. In January 2019, a jury convicted Tysean Lipford, Leaundra Matthews’ boyfriend at the time of the killing, of second-degree murder for his role in Christian Matthews’ death.
On March 23, 2017, Lipford, who shares two children with Leaundra Matthews, confessed to police that he fatally strangled Christian Matthews while he slept in the basement of his home at 1021 Mondrian Terrace in Silver Spring. Lipford told police he and his girlfriend conspired to kill the teen, according to charging documents.
Lipford told investigators that Christian Matthews had threatened to cause harm to Leaundra Matthews and the couple’s daughter (who was a baby at the time) and “had to go,” charging documents state.
On the night of the murder, Leaundra Matthews picked up Lipford and Howard and drove them to the family’s home. She checked the basement room where her brother lived to make sure he was asleep, according to charging documents. After confirming her brother was asleep, Leaundra Matthews unlocked the back door of the residence and left disposable gloves for Lipford and Howard to use, documents said.
Montgomery County police responded to the 1000 block of Mondrian Terrace around 2:25 a.m. for a “suspicious situation,” and upon arrival, officers found Christian Matthews unresponsive in the basement of the home, charging documents stated. He was transported to Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring where he was pronounced dead.
According to charging documents, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore ruled that Christian Matthews was asphyxiated and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
After his confession, Lipford told investigators he sent text messages to Leaundra Matthews before and after the killing and the messages were later obtained by a search warrant, documents said.
Within the text messages sent the night of the murder, Leaundra Matthews mentioned picking up “Ghost,” an alias name for Howard, who was later identified as a co-conspirator in the killing, according to charging documents.
On Aug. 15, 2019, Leaundra Matthews confessed to her mother and an aunt that she conspired in the murder of her brother, according to charging documents. Referring to alleged abuse she received from her brother, Leaundra Matthews said “It had to be done” and that “he had to go because he wasn’t going to stop,” documents state. She also told them that Howard held her brother down while Lipford choked him, according to charging documents.
Lipford was sentenced in June 2019 to 30 years in prison, which he is currently serving at the Eastern Correctional Institution in Somerset County, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
Leaundra Matthews’ twin sister, Lemae Matthews, was in the home at the time of the death and also was charged in the case, according to charging documents.
Lemae Matthews pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact in October 2021, according to the state’s attorney’s office. She faces up to 10 years in prison during a sentencing hearing scheduled for Aug. 16.