WASHINGTON — A Maryland man charged with killing his estranged wife and two strangers in a May 2016 manhunt has pleaded guilty for his crimes in Montgomery County.
On Tuesday, Eulalio Tordil pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder in a Montgomery County courtroom.
The plea agreement would see him sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Tordil of Adelphi, Maryland, is accused of killing his estranged wife, Gladys, outside of a Prince George’s County school on May 5, 2016. One day later, Tordil shot two good Samaritans who attempted to help a woman in the parking lot of Westfield Montgomery Mall, as he tried to steal her vehicle. Malcolm Winffel died; the woman and other man were injured.
Later that morning, Tordil shot and killed Claudina Molina as he tried to steal her SUV outside Giant Food on Connecticut Avenue in Aspen Hill.
“The people here in Montgomery County that were killed or were shot [and wounded] were truly — they were innocents. These were people who had no connection to this man whatsoever. It was complete random violence because he needed access to a car to complete his escape from law enforcement,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said Tuesday.
Tordil still faces a charge of first-degree murder in the slaying of Gladys Tordil in Prince George’s County.
Last week, The Washington Post reported Tordil was expected to plead guilty in the case.
At the time of the shooting, Tordil was on administrative leave from his job with the Federal Protective Service and was under a protective order that required he stay away from his estranged wife plus her residence and the high school where she taught chemistry.
“He was fueled, as you know, by his own anger, about his own failed marriage, his failed finances, the fact that his job had been taken away from him, he was under the threat of a protective order,” McCarthy said. “This was a man who did not care what injury he caused to his wife or to anyone else who got in the way.”
WTOP’s Dick Uliano contributed to this report from Montgomery County.
