A rock climber who killed another man in 2013 by striking him multiple times on the head with a claw hammer at the Carderock Recreation Area in Bethesda pleaded guilty Monday to voluntary manslaughter in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.
Prosecutors said the hammer attack by David DiPaolo, 33, of Bristow, Virginia, killed Geoffrey Farrar, 69, of Arlington. Farrar survived briefly after DiPaolo fled the scene on the afternoon of Dec. 28, 2013, and was discovered with serious injuries by other rock climbers. He died after being airlifted to Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.
DiPaolo and Farrar had argued in the parking lot at the recreation area shortly before the attack, according to the statement of facts in the case. After the argument, DiPaolo went to his vehicle, then returned and found Farrar and struck him multiple times on the head with the hammer before fleeing the scene. The two men knew each other for years as part of the local rock climbing community and those who knew them said DiPaolo was somewhat of an apprentice to Farrar, according to an account in Outside Magazine.
DiPaolo fled the state after the attack and was arrested Jan. 8, 2014, by New York State Police near Glens Falls, New York. He was then interviewed by U.S. Park Police in upstate New York, where he admitted to striking Farrar with the hammer.
DiPaolo is scheduled to be sentenced May 9 at the federal court in Greenbelt.
