Seriously, What is This Place Coming To?
You want to rob, cheat, steal, kill - come to Vienna. No one is on duty. No one is home. It is the wild, wild west.
Man, 30, Is Charged In Woman's SlayingBy Michael Laris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 5, 2008; B03The body of a 25-year-old woman was found on the sidewalk of a cul-de-sac in the Vienna area early yesterday, and Fairfax County police said they charged a man with abduction and murder in the case.
The victim, Homaira Rahman, lived a half-mile from where she was found, according to police. Detectives think that she and the suspect knew each other, said Officer Don Gotthardt, a Fairfax police spokesman.
Police declined to give details of how Rahman was killed, but they said she suffered trauma to her upper body. An autopsy will be performed.
Gotthardt said the suspect, Ehsan Amin, 30, lives in the 16000 block of Kings Mountain Drive in Woodbridge. However, a man reached by telephone at that address said Amin stays there only occasionally.
Amin was taken to Fairfax's Adult Detention Center, police said.
Tooba Mayel, a close friend of Rahman's family, said Rahman was a generous and sparkling force among loved ones and the broader Afghan community. Her family moved to the area in the 1980s, and she was born in the United States.
"She was a beautiful, tall girl with a smile on her face," Mayel said. "Friends and family always called her sunshine. Our entire community is in grief right now."
Rahman encouraged young Afghan American women to find jobs, Mayel said, and "she was always volunteering to do charity work for the kids in Afghanistan."
Rahman, who lived in the 8700 block of Litwalton Court in the Vienna area, was also known among her friends as "the fashionista," Mayel said. "She wore the best clothes, the newest trends in clothes. She just had a lot of love for that," Mayel said. "She's just a very colorful person. She's always wearing bright colors, happy-go-lucky, very bubbly."
A man out for a walk came across Rahman's body in the 2300 block of Malraux Drive shortly after 6:30 a.m., police said.
"Her arms were very badly scraped up," said Dennis McAuliffe, a neighbor who also saw the scene. Rahman was fully clothed, and a pocketbook lay by her side, he said.
"I don't know if there's a quieter street in Vienna, in Fairfax County, than here," McAuliffe said.
Flags dotted the neighborhood for the Fourth of July.
"People don't drive fast. There are a lot of kids. It's a pretty family-oriented neighborhood," resident Ron Alexander said.
Staff researcher Eddy Palanzo contributed to this report.
Comments
This didn't happen in the Town; that's why Fairfax County handled it. It happened in 22182, between Cedar Lane, Electric Ave., out that way. Better to have the County on it than the Town. My money's on a "domestic" issue. And as for the guy (McAuliffe) quoted in the article as saying "I don't know if there's a quieter street in Vienna, in Fairfax County, than here", he needs to get out more. But that's pretty much the standard response. He obviously doesn't get to the other end of Cedar Lane too often. You know, where it hits Park St.
Posted by: Mark | July 6, 2008 07:56 AM
Based on the address and some pictures I saw on TV, the body must have been right where the entrance to the Tysons Woods park is from the WO&D trail...
Posted by: You're kidding me, right? | July 8, 2008 02:39 PM
You're kidding is perpetuating the same misinformation broadcast by some local TV stations. The incident had nothing to do with the W&OD trail but was in a subdivision off Electric Avenue. To inject the local park in the mix of a domestic affair is uncalled for.
Posted by: PAngry | July 8, 2008 10:53 PM
The end of the 2300 block of Malraux Drive is the where the path between the WO&D trail and the Tysons Woods park sits. Combined with the news report that said "Rahman's body was discovered within sight of the Washington and Old Dominion Trail.", it's a pretty logical conclusion.
Didn't claim I had any direct knowledge - was just citing what was on TV and the papers.
Perhaps you can better state exactly where it was found?
Posted by: You're kidding me, right? | July 9, 2008 02:54 PM
I think the reason the media mentioned that it was "within sight" of the trail is that they are looking for witnesses who might have been on the trail.
Posted by: anne smith | July 9, 2008 10:56 PM
Yeesh. I live in the 22182 area. My mom keeps warning me about this incident.
Posted by: madstudent | July 17, 2008 03:42 PM
i was just at the site of where her body was found and i can tell you that you can see the trail from there. And I walked through the park to get home...actually i ran. There's a very cute memorial there with flowers at many balloons.
Also, it was domestic in a way i guess. A very strange story actually.
So, yea. There you go.
Posted by: SmoothLegsToBed | July 19, 2008 09:55 PM