Half-naked 'bride' used her head to break into house

Prosecutors and defence attorneyes agreed on one word to describe the case of a woman who smashed her head through the window of a couple’s house while half naked in a wedding gown during a blizzard: Bizarre. A Washington County Circuit Court jury took about 10 minutes on Thursday to find Melissa Ann Wagaman guilty of second-degree assault, fourth-degree burglary and two counts of reckless endangerment. Circuit Judge Donald E. Beachley deferred sentencing for a month. Wagaman faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on the assault conviction. Wagaman, 33, of 17804 Stone Valley Circle in Hagerstown, was charged in the Feb. 9 incident in which she broke into a home wearing only the skirt of a wedding gown and a veil, according to the application for statement of charges filed by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. Wagaman testified she is bipolar, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and was sleep deprived that night.

She also testified she took cold medicine and a puff of marijuana several hours before going to the home of Aaron and Erin Parrott, also on Stone Valley Circle. “I thought I was going to my mom’s house, which is in the other direction,” Wagaman testified. Explaining how she was dressed that night, Wagaman testified she was “playing dress-up” with a friend’s 3-year-old daughter. “I put on the gown, but it was too small to pull up” to her shoulders, Wagaman testified. She then began hallucinating, thinking she was to be married that day, she testified. Erin Parrott testified she was watching television at about 9:20 p.m. when someone knocked on her door. “My mom’s in your basement. I need to get in,” Wagaman said as she covered her bare chest with her arms, Parrott testified. Parrott went upstairs and woke her husband, Aaron, who told Wagaman to leave, but she instead went to the back of the house, Parrott testified.



Aaron Parrott testified he grabbed a snow shovel from outside the back sliding glass door of the house and locked the door. Wagaman banged on the door, then walked to the dining room window, rearing her head back and striking it twice, shattering it the second time, he testified. “I hit her as hard as I could in the head” with the shovel to keep her from climbing through the window, Aaron Parrott testified. During the incident, he discovered a 4-inch cut to his arm from the broken glass that was bleeding badly, he testified. He had severed arteries and spent three nights in the hospital, he testified. The couple ran to a neighbour’s house, where they waited for police and an ambulance to arrive, Aaron Parrott testified. The Parrotts both testified they had never met Wagaman before that night.

Wagaman was found lying unconscious in the snow, Deputy 1st Class Thomas Routzahn testified. Routzahn and Erin Parrott testified there was blood through much of the house, indicating Wagaman entered the Parrotts’ home after they fled next door. Wagaman testified she needed 78 stitches for her injuries. “You are not here to determine if she is crazy,” but whether Wagaman committed the crimes, Assistant State’s Attorney Leon Debes told the jury. “She thought, for whatever reason ... that her mother was in that house” and believed she had a right to be there, Assistant Public Defender Loren Villa told the jury. Villa argued that the state did not prove Wagaman caused Aaron Parrott’s injuries, and her client had no intent to harm anyone when she smashed her head through the window.