A Waldorf, Maryland, man has been convicted of first-degree murder for shooting his wife in the back of the head while she slept on a December night in 2022, the Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
After a four-day trial, a jury found 36-year-old Travis Edward Paschal Wood guilty of murdering his wife, Shawnda Nicole Wood, 32.
According to prosecutors, Travis walked into the Charles County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 9, 2022, to request a welfare check at his home. He told an investigator he had been suicidal the night before and asked for his lawyer, but didn’t provide any additional detail, prosecutors said in a news release Monday.
When officers arrived at the home on Tawny Drive in Waldorf, they found a handgun and Shawnda lying dead in the couple’s bed. Investigators found Travis’ DNA on the gun.
The sheriff’s office investigation determined the couple went to a hookah lounge and had drinks after putting their children to bed. They returned home around 2 a.m., where Shawnda confronted her husband about peeing on the floor outside the bathroom and told him he needed to be out of the house by the weekend.
Later that night, while Shawnda slept, Travis shot her once in the back of the head, prosecutors said.
The next morning, according to officials, Travis rounded up their three daughters and dropped them off at their grandmother’s house. There, he told his mother he had killed his wife. He eventually showed up at the police station.
Travis was convicted of first-degree murder and the use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. He’s scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 8, 2026, and faces life in prison plus an additional 20 years.
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