Wanda Alston (Photo by Rudy K. Lawidjaja)
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LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Friday, March 11, 2005
The missing car belonging to slain mayoral aide Wanda Alston, who headed the city’s gay affairs office, was found Thursday less than a block from the Southeast D.C. street corner where two transgendered women were shot to death in August 2002.
Alston, 45, was found slain in her house at 3808 East Capitol Street, NE, about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 16. Her silver 2000 Nissan Maxima was reported missing at the time her partner discovered her body lying in a pool of blood near the entrance to her house.
Police said they found Alston’s car around noon on Thursday, March 17, on the 5000 block of C Street, SE. The car was parked less than a block from the site where Stephanie (Wilbur) Thomas, 19, and Ukea (Deon) Davis, 18, died in a hail of bullets fired at them by unknown assailants while they sat in Thomas’s Toyota Camry.
The two teens were shot about 3:25 a.m. Aug. 12, 2002, at the corner of 50th and C Streets, SE, police said. Police sources said the two were each shot at least 10 times in the head and upper body. In August 2003, one year after their death, D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey told a memorial service for the two transgendered women that police had identified possible suspects in the case but had been unable to obtain sufficient information to make any arrests.
Ramsey said police had no evidence to indicate the killings were a hate crime but police could not rule out the possibility that the motive was an anti-gay or anti-transgender hatred.
Sgt. Bret Parson, director of the police Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, said Alston’s car would be taken to a police crime lab for a detailed analysis.
“It’s an important break in the case,” he said.
Parson said he could not comment on details surrounding the Alston murder, including whether police believe there might be a link between the Alston case and the transgender slayings at the site where Alston’s car was found.
The location where the car was found is about a mile away from Alston’s house. The area is marked by boarded up apartment buildings and litter-strewn empty lots.
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