A D.C. man has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the slaying of his girlfriend, who was last seen in 2020 and whose body has never been found.
Darnell Sterling, 57, of Southeast D.C., was convicted of killing Olga Ooro, 34, in July 2020 after the couple and Ooro’s 7-year-old son returned to her apartment in Northwest D.C. following a dinner out.
Ooro was reported missing a few days later after another tenant found the boy wandering the hallways sobbing and asking for his mom.
Prosecutors said Sterling killed Ooro inside her apartment on the morning of July 17, 2020, while the boy was sleeping. Prosecutors said Sterling cleaned up the crime scene and concealed her body in a hidden location, before leaving the building shortly before 4 a.m. in a change of clothes and carrying a large black bag.
Surveillance video and key fob records showed Sterling returned to Ooro’s apartment about 24 hours later — early July 18 — using Ooro’s key fob to enter the building. Surveillance video from that night showed Sterling pushing a handcart into the elevator and several minutes later dragging a large object wrapped in fabric on the handcart out of the elevator and toward the parking garage.
Ooro’s body has never been recovered.
Sterling was arrested July 23, 2020, and has been in custody since then.
At the time of Ooro’s disappearance, Sterling had been ordered to stay away from her after being charged a few months prior with assaulting her.
The jury delivered its verdict Monday following a trial in D.C. Superior Court. Sterling was also convicted of contempt for violating the earlier order to stay away from Ooro.
Sentencing is set for Feb. 3.
