July 28th, 2021
Police in Montgomery County reports that at approximately 8:20 a.m. July 28, 2021, Montgomery County Police and Montgomery County Fire Rescue, responded to a residence at 4100 Spruell Drive in Kensington, Maryland, for a death investigation after receiving a 911 call. Upon their arrival, Julia Birch told officers that she killed her 92-year-old roommate, Nancy Ann Frankel. Officers located Frankel in the home and notified the Homicide Section of a possible murder. Evidence recovered in the residence supported Birch’s statement and she was taken into custody and transported to Montgomery County Police Headquarters to be interviewed. During the interview, police say that Birch admitted to killing Frankel and then calling 911 to report the death. Frankel’s home, a modest rambler with a basement built in 1954 was deeded to her trust by her and Theodore Frankel in 2002 and is located in the Rock Creek Palisades neighborhood.