Man admits to concealing body and destroying evidence

By Linda Cicoira

A Maryland man admitted Thursday in Accomack Circuit Court that he concealed a Salisbury woman’s body and destroyed physical evidence of a felony in a 2023 case in which the victim allegedly died from a drug overdose.

Thirty-five-year-old Johmon Lawrence Handy, of Plover Road in Salisbury, was sentenced to five years in prison with all but two years suspended for concealing the body of 28-year-old Kadisha Annette Smith of Salisbury, Md., and five years with all suspended for destroying evidence regarding her death.

Smith’s remains were found along railroad tracks in northern Accomack County, about 34 miles from where she was last seen. The crimes occurred on May 25, 2023.

Online records from Maryland show Handy is serving 15 years in prison with five years suspended for possession with intent to distribute a narcotic that also occurred in 2023. Terms in Accomack will run consecutively with each other but concurrently with the Maryland sentence.

Also charged in connection with the incident were 36-year-old Amanda Christine Rooks, of Naylor Mill Road in Salisbury, and 26-year-old Ronjai Allen Wharton, of Leemont Road in Parksley. They are accused of transporting, secreting, concealing, or altering Smith’s body to prevent detection of an unlawful act or to prevent the detection of the death or the manner or cause of death; and destroying physical evidence with the intent to delay, impede, obstruct, prevent, or hinder the investigation, apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of a person regarding a felony offense.

Rook has a status hearing coming up next month. Wharton’s trial is set for Oct. 30.

In early June 2023, officials from Wicomico County, Md., were looking for Smith after she was reported missing. The officers learned that Smith’s body had been disposed of in Accomack. The mother of four had last been seen on Delaware Avenue in Salisbury.