Police say the investigation expanded from a household argument to an alleged church confession, a recovered handgun and a grand jury indictment.
FREDERICK, Md. — What began, according to a neighbor, as friction over shutting off electricity for an outlet repair became the opening chapter in a Frederick homicide case involving a dead roommate, an alleged confession at a church, a recovered handgun and an 87-year-old defendant now under grand jury indictment.
The electrical work is the most ordinary detail in an otherwise unusual sequence. Michael Roy Bushnell, 63, had been trying to repair an outlet at the Franklin Street home he shared with Irwin Joseph Dickstein, according to accounts of the charging documents. Bushnell shut off the power, and a neighbor told investigators that Dickstein became upset. The men allegedly argued. Several loud bangs were heard from the residence at about 5:30 a.m. Sept. 20. Police and prosecutors have not established publicly that the disagreement was the sole motive for what followed.
By the time law enforcement became aware of the suspected killing, the reported conflict inside the house was over and Dickstein had left. Police were not first summoned by a report of gunfire from the home. Instead, authorities say the case surfaced after Dickstein made statements about killing his roommate. That distinction shaped the early investigation: Detectives were working backward from an alleged confession to determine what had occurred at the residence rather than arriving while the confrontation was still unfolding.
Dickstein went to Frederick Christian Fellowship later that morning. There, according to court records reported by several outlets, he allegedly told a pastor that he had killed someone. The pastor contacted authorities at about 10:30 a.m. The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office then notified Frederick police of a possible murder. Police said Dickstein had reportedly admitted shooting his roommate to a witness and supplied the location of the incident. The report sent city officers to the unit block of Franklin Street for a welfare check.
Officers found the house unsecured. They entered and discovered Bushnell dead inside, Frederick police said. Reports based on the charging documents place him in an upstairs bathroom and say investigators believed he had been shot multiple times. Police have not publicly issued a complete forensic narrative of the death, and the available reporting does not provide a full autopsy record. The restrained official account instead identifies Bushnell as the victim, states that he was found dead and says the investigation led police to identify Dickstein as the suspect.
The events outside the house gave detectives another evidentiary path. A man who drove Dickstein to the church said Dickstein had expressed a need to speak with a pastor. The driver also allegedly heard Dickstein admit killing his roommate. According to court reporting, Dickstein left a case in the man’s vehicle. Police obtained judicial authorization to search it and recovered a Beretta handgun. Although the weapon’s recovery is significant, the public sources reviewed for this story do not report a conclusive forensic finding that it fired the shots that killed Bushnell.
Investigators soon located Dickstein away from the Franklin Street residence and arrested him without incident. In a subsequent interview, he allegedly identified Bushnell as the man he had killed and told detectives that Bushnell was at the residence, according to reports describing the probable cause affidavit. Dickstein then declined to answer more questions without a lawyer. That request was an exercise of his legal rights. Any earlier statements attributed to him would still be subject to ordinary evidentiary rules and possible court challenges.
The case therefore became broader than the electrical disagreement that first appeared in the neighbor’s account. Investigators had to examine statements allegedly made at multiple locations, testimony from people who encountered Dickstein after he left the home, the physical scene where Bushnell was found and a firearm recovered from a vehicle. A household dispute may help explain the prosecution’s chronology, but each criminal charge requires proof of specific legal elements. The public record does not allow the reported argument alone to be treated as proof of premeditation or intent.
Frederick police initially charged Dickstein with one count of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder. He was transported to the Frederick County Adult Detention Center and held without bail. The department said investigators believed the killing was an isolated event and that there was no ongoing threat to the surrounding community. Police also emphasized that the investigation remained active and declined to release additional details that they believed could affect the case.
The prosecution changed shape in early October. A Frederick County grand jury indicted Dickstein on first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony or crime of violence, according to WFMD. The firearm count was an additional allegation compared with the police department’s original public announcement. A grand jury indictment authorizes a prosecution to move forward on the charged offenses; it is not a finding that the defendant committed them. Dickstein remains presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The indictment also focuses attention on questions that have not been fully answered publicly. Investigators recovered a handgun, but public reports do not provide complete ballistic findings. Witnesses described loud bangs, but no public account reviewed here identifies a civilian eyewitness who actually saw the shooting. A neighbor described tension over the power being shut off, but authorities have not published a comprehensive account of the roommates’ relationship or said whether other events preceded the confrontation. Those gaps do not invalidate the charges, but they limit what can responsibly be stated as fact.
Another unresolved issue concerns Dickstein’s competency to proceed through the criminal case. His defense requested an evaluation, and reports said he was ordered to undergo an inpatient examination. A competency hearing was scheduled for Oct. 13. Such proceedings examine whether a defendant currently understands the nature of the case and can assist counsel. They do not decide whether the defendant committed the crime. A reliable published result from that scheduled hearing was not found in the sources reviewed through Nov. 8.
Bushnell’s death, meanwhile, remains the central fact behind the procedural developments. He was identified by police as a 63-year-old Frederick resident who shared the Franklin Street home with Dickstein. Much of the public reporting has focused on the unusual route from an alleged shooting to a church disclosure, but the criminal case ultimately concerns whether prosecutors can prove that Dickstein unlawfully and intentionally caused Bushnell’s death and used a firearm in the manner alleged by the indictment.
The pastor’s role is important because the report to law enforcement appears to have accelerated the discovery of the crime scene. The driver’s role is distinct because his account gave investigators information about Dickstein’s movements and the case containing the handgun. The neighbor’s role is different again, supplying context about the argument and the sounds heard earlier that morning. None of those witnesses, based on the currently available reporting, substitutes for the need to prove the physical and legal elements of the homicide charge in court.
As of Nov. 8, Dickstein faces a first-degree murder indictment and a firearm charge in connection with Bushnell’s death. The most recent verified reports leave the competency issue without a publicly confirmed resolution and do not disclose a trial date or final disposition. What is established publicly is the progression from the reported electrical dispute to the alleged church confession, police discovery of Bushnell, recovery of a handgun, Dickstein’s arrest and the later grand jury action.
Author note: Last updated November 8, 2026.