News and notes from Reston (tm).

Monday, October 26, 2009

This Week in Crime: Body Found in Winterthur

Picture 3.jpgA woman was found dead in the Winterthur apartment complex in South Reston on Saturday afternoon.

Police discovered the body of a woman inside a Reston apartment Saturday afternoon and are questioning a man who was there with her. The incident was reported around 3:40 p.m. at the Winterthur Apartment complex at 11900 Winterthur Ln.

Police say both are in their 40s, and the death appears to be domestic related. Police are calling this a death investigation pending the outcome of their investigation.
It's not the first time an altercation of this sort has happened in Winterthur. Maybe it's something in the water.

Also last week, cell phones were brazenly stolen from the T-Mobile store in the Reston Town Center.
Three men allegedly stole cell phones from the T-Mobile store, located at 1837 Fountain Drive. On Friday, October 16 just before noon, the men entered the store and began questioning the employee regarding prices. One of the suspects left and the other suspects grabbed a total of four cell phones. They fled in an older model sedan, possibly a Ford. There were no injuries. The suspects were described as black, in their 20s. This first suspect was described as 6 feet tall, 170 pounds with a goatee. He wore a black jacket, jeans, and sneakers. The second suspect was around 5 feet 11 inches tall, 155 pounds, and wore his hair in dreadlocks. He also wore a black jacket, jeans, and sneakers. The third suspect was about 6 feet tall, 190 pounds, and had long dreadlocks. He wore a gray pullover jacket, sweat pants, and black sneakers.
Given T-Mobile's subscriber base at this point, we'd say anyone who enters one of their stores ought to be considered suspicious right from the get-go, the end.

18 comments:

  1. Nine out of ten abused women really did burn the damn steak.

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  2. From the Uplands of RestonOctober 26, 2009 at 10:37 AM

    Hmm, how different are the perp's descriptions from the Apple store thieves?

    Reston, a post-modern, hip-cat swinging new city, with Oxford Brown fences, and "This Week in Crime" is the second largest category in a filthy web-blog.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Wow, this woman was murdered, and you guys are making jokes about it? This was a real person. She had friends and family and maybe even kids.

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  5. Ah, don't take it so personally. We're equal opportunity cretins.

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  6. No details other than that the police believe that the man at the apartment was in a relationship with the deceased.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102602579.html?wprss=rss_metro

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  7. Anon 12:15 You are spot on, these other Anons and some non-anons are douche bags.

    A real person in our community was murdered. Not a laughing matter!

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  8. According to a resident, the man in the apartment claimed the gun went off by accident.

    http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/read/2/262846.html

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  9. A real person in our community is murdered more often than we want to admit -- and often at Winterthur or nearby. That's what most of the humor is about. It's called sardonic or black humor and even Shakespeare used it.

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  10. Anon 7:52 Call it what you want, you'll still be a douche-bag.

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  11. What an incredibly mature comment. Glad you're here to share.

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  12. I'm calling out all the douche-bags who are making fun of some unfortunate woman getting killed in our midst. It is not snarky or ironic or sardonic to make fun of her or where she lived and died. it is just shitty.

    So you are welcome, I'm glad to share.

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  13. You can defend making fun of this situation if you like, but this woman was our neighbor, and finding humor in her murder is just wrong.

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  14. Anon 11:20, it is indeed wrong, reprehensible and perverse.

    These douche bags who posted up about property values and 'another person getting murdered in winterthur' are crass shitheels who should be ashamed of themselves.

    It is a poor marginalized woman who was killed so they feel they can make fun of it.

    If this was some white upper middle class douche bag in Northpoint they would not be singing the same tune, maybe the douche who was worried about her property values going down would be saying the same thing though...

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  15. Broke in Charter Oak (BiCO)October 28, 2009 at 10:00 AM

    Anonymous 12:29 AM: As someone who attends church just outside of Northpoint, does his grocery shopping there, and has several friends in that area I really take offense to your classist "douche bag" reference. Sure, the vehicle of choice in Northpoint might be a Lexus SUV, but these people are still an integral part of OUR community, whether you would like to admit that or not, and how do you know all of those in this thread who made light of this homicide are from Northpoint? Northpoint is relatively sparsely populated, and I'd take an educated guess (or an IP address search) that of the posters here, many would reflect fellow South Reston addresses.

    I'm still relatively new to Reston so pardon my ignorance, but why, exactly, do so many south of the toll road have such hostility and jealousy towards people in the North? I guarantee you my income is probably less than every South Reston individual who posts here, and I clip coupons and remain vigilant about energy consumption just like everyone else. From all my journeys into South Reston it seems like a BEAUTIFUL part of town with some great lakes, ample foliage, trails, and good-natured people. You even have Chili's! :-P Why this classist nonsense towards those of us in the North? Heck, when I moved here I had a co-worker from South Reston say "Oh. You're from the RICH part of Reston." What perpetuates these nonsensical stereotypes? South Reston isn't an Anacostia wannabe and Northpoint isn't a Great Falls wannabe (nor is my native North Shore Drive the "rich" part of town for that matter). Let's stop labeling people by what part of the community they live in and work cohesively towards a better Reston, shall we? It seems like the Toll Road has really "fractured" Reston.

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  16. BiCO- probably shouldn't post now, as I'm about to go out the door.

    First, the area around Lake Ann (C.O. included) is not what most people would consider to be north Reston. North reston is the area above Baron Cameron on the way to route 7, which was pretty much devoid of houses until... the 90s? I think? It's the "new" part of town, which is, in general, much richer and much "whiter" than the rest of Reston, which is very diverse. The reason North Reston is considered more "sought after" these days is, in fact, because it's a "whiter" area, and, even though few would admit it, there are still lots of people around who wouldn't want their kids going to terraset or hunter's woods or forest edge not because of poor school quality (though some may hide behind that), but because there are too many brown kids.

    Is the stereotype of people from north reston as elistist white folks fair? Probably not, but it does come from somewhere.

    I also don't think the other poster was specifically singling out people from northpoint- I think his point was that if the lady in question had been from the "rich" part of town, people wouldn't be joking about it. And I expect that's true. Why is her murder suddenly joke-worthy because it occured at winterthur? The fact that that's become a crime-ridden area is not funny in the least.

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  17. I should probably be smarter than to re-post, but I wanted to apologize to those who thought I was mocking the death of this poor woman. For the record, I was (tastelessly) remarking about the LEVEL of crime in Reston. There were TWO crime news stories in that spot, and one reference to earlier crime at Winterthur. THAT was what I was reacting to. But I should know better than to send without giving things a second thought. For that, I apologize.

    And also for the record, I live within spitting distance of that area, so yes, it IS my property values which are affected by the non-stop stream of criminal activities around Winterthur, including Hunters Woods plaza. That's everything from gang tagging to assault to murder. For all that is said about the North Reston/South Reston split, the truth is that the area around HW Plaza is notorious for crime.

    I'm still aghast at the language choices of some of the anonymous commentators and the vitriol that spews from them. I tell my kids that poor language choices are simply a failure of imagination and vocabulary. I fail to see how'douche bag' and 's***heels' increase people's ability to reach one another, in comfort, understanding or disagreement!

    The woman who died was a neighbor of my in-laws and from all accounts was a wonderful woman. If she had been otherwise, would it be any less tragic? The truth is that many of the situations in the Winterthur developments and many areas around the Hunters Woods plaza are tragedies just waiting to happen. There are too many people living on too little income with too little hope. And crime soars during recessions, especially in areas like Reston where people generally are trusting and kind...except on blogs where anonymity lends people courage.

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  18. Brooklyn Bridge SalesmanOctober 28, 2009 at 11:09 PM

    Well said, South Lake Mom. From my general impression of all your previous posts on Restonian, I didn't believe you would be the type to make light of a human tragedy. As the back and forth comments on this particular post show, sometimes we all forget the power of words.

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