Florida man charged in 2006 death of woman found near Maryland rest stop

A Florida man has been charged in the cold case death of a woman whose body was found near a Maryland rest stop in 2006, Maryland State Police said Monday.

Garry Artman, of White Springs, is charged with first- and second-degree murder and first- and second-degree assault.

Artman, 64, was arrested last month in Mississippi in connection with a Michigan woman’s 1996 murder. Atman’s DNA profile was a match to both the Michigan and Maryland killings, police said. The two killings were connected in 2008 by the Combined DNA Index System.

Investigators with the Kent County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan sent Artman’s DNA swab to Maryland State Police, who confirmed the DNA match.

The body of Dusty Myriah Shuck, a 24-year-old woman from New Mexico, was found in May 2006 near a rest stop on I-70 in Frederick County. She was last seen at a New Mexico hotel just over a week earlier, police said.

Shuck’s death was ruled as a homicide by stabbing and blunt force trauma, and an investigation began to find her killer. Investigators said “very few leads were generated,” in the investigation, and no witnesses came forward.

“Missing person databases were checked along with tattoo parlors throughout the region,” police said in a statement. “Countless interviews, sifting through case files and following up on hopeful leads yielded unsuccessful results at locating a suspect in the case. Investigators left no stone unturned.”

Several pieces of women’s underwear were seized from a Florida storage unit believed to be Artman’s in late August, police said. Investigators are working to determine whether there are other victims.

Forensic analysts from the Maryland State Police Crime Lab are assisting with biological evidence examinations.

Investigators from the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit traveled to Michigan to conduct interviews and gather additional information relevant to the investigation.

Maryland State Police are working with law enforcement partners in Michigan in the investigation.

Artman is being held at the Kent County Correctional Facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan, police said.