The 23-year-old Potomac man charged with killing his mother in their Newbridge Drive home was released from detention Oct. 13 after preliminary DNA testing failed to tie him to his mother’s body.
Mark K. Makki was arrested Oct. 9 and charged with robbery and the first-degree murder of his mother, Shohreh Zahra Seyed-Makki, 54, who was found dead in her home in the 9500 block of Newbridge Drive at around 6:30 p.m. Oct. 6.
Makki was initially held without bond, but a district court judge permitted him to be released on $250,000 bond following the DNA revelation.
Makki is subject to global positioning system monitoring and is required to remain in Montgomery County, according to Deputy State’s Attorney Kay Winfree. He also surrendered his passport, quelling concerns that he could flee the country.
Winfree said he is living with his sister, Amanda Makki, 27, in Gaithersburg.
“THE CHARGES have not been dropped. We still believe that he is responsible for his mother’s murder,” said Derek Baliles, a Montgomery County Police spokesman. Baliles said that the police investigation is ongoing but has shifted from efforts to identify a suspect to meticulously preparing evidence for trial.
Those efforts include both documenting evidence that points to the suspect, and ruling out alternatives scenarios, like a break-in, he said. Baliles could not comment specifically on the evidence.
Winfree said that the initial DNA finding is “significant” but not exculpatory.
“All of the evidence that was cited in the statement of charges is still there, it’s simply that the preliminary forensic testing is not definitive,” she said. “We will have to see whether there is sufficient evidence to indict him.”
The charging documents filed in District Court for Montgomery County stated that Makki was arrested following multiple interviews that revealed "inconsistencies" in his story.
Mark Makki stated that his girlfriend could provide "an alibi as to his whereabouts" when the murder occurred, according to the documents.
Mark Makki told police he stayed at his girlfriend's house the night of Oct. 5 and was with her until the evening of Oct. 6, after the murder occurred.
But the girlfriend said that he returned to his house during the morning of Oct. 6 and that they did not visit a Montgomery County library that afternoon, as Mark Makki had stated, according to the documents.
Police said Makki and his mother had argued repeatedly over several years about his relationship with his girlfriend.
MAKKI IS scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Montgomery County Circuit Court Nov. 4.
Assistant State’s Attorneys Deborah Armstrong and Amy Bills are prosecuting the case.
Makki’s attorney is Bruce L. Marcus of the law firm Marcus and Bonsib in Greenbelt.