18 Years Later, a Cook’s Murder Behind a Georgia Lowe’s Remains Unsolved

The body was found behind a Lowe’s Home Improvement store on a Tuesday night in November. Unclothed. Alone. Left in a parking area off Crain Highway in Waldorf while the rest of the world moved through its evening.

That was Nov. 11, 2008. Eighteen years have passed, and nobody has been charged with killing Daniel Argueta Cordova.

Officers with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office responded to 2525 Crain Highway at 8:24 p.m. that night and found the body of an unclothed male behind the business. The victim was identified as Argueta Cordova, who worked as a cook at a local Outback Steakhouse. The medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide. He had suffered trauma to his upper body.

The case went cold. And it has stayed that way.

On Wednesday, the anniversary of the discovery, the Sheriff’s Office renewed its public appeal for help. Detectives say they were able to trace Argueta Cordova’s movements in the hours before his death to a local liquor store. Surveillance footage from that store captured two individuals of interest going inside. Those two people have never been identified.

That is where you can help.

Anyone with information about the case or about the two individuals seen in that footage is asked to contact Charles County Crime Solvers. Tips can be submitted anonymously through the Crime Solvers tip line at 1-866-411-TIPS, online at www.charlescountycrimesolvers.com, or through the P3Intel mobile app, listed as “P3tips” in both the Android and Apple stores. Anonymous tips submitted through Crime Solvers may be eligible for a cash reward.

Argueta Cordova’s case is one of many unsolved homicides in Charles County that investigators continue to pursue. Eighteen years is a long time. But the footage exists. The two individuals in it are somewhere.