A New Jersey trucker has been charged with murder after Maryland deputies found a woman dead in his cab in Monrovia Sunday morning.

The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office said it was called to the Costco Distribution Center at about 1:30 a.m. on a report of a driver who appeared to be under the influence and had broken out the window of his own cab.

The driver, later identified as 46-year-old Matthew Sidney Watley, was found sitting in the driver’s seat of his truck at the entrance to the distribution center, his truck running. Deputies said he “was argumentative and did not want to speak to deputies.”

The deputies put spike strips at the front and back of the truck while they continued to speak with the driver, but he put the truck in gear and attempted to flee, rolling over the spike strips and leading deputies on a slow speed chase inside the Costco facility.

His tires deflated, Watley came to a stop in the exit lane but still refused to get out of the truck and continued being confrontational. The deputies deployed pepper spray through his open window, but he still refused to exit.

“Deputies broke a window and a deputy entered the cab, deployed their taser, and successfully detained him,” the sheriff’s office said.

At that time, they discovered the body of a woman on the floorboard. The woman has been identified, but police are withholding her name until next of kin notifications are complete.

Deputies did not provide any other details about the woman’s death.

Watley was taken to Frederick Health Hospital for an evaluation, where he remains under guard. He has been charged with first- and second-degree murder.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Todd Wivell told the Frederick News Post that police are waiting on the toxicology report to see what substance Watley ingested.

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