WASHINGTON — A suspect has been arrested in the Tuesday stabbing death of a D.C. woman near Logan Circle in Northwest.
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham identified the suspect as Anthony Crawford, 23, of Northwest, who has been charged with first-degree murder while armed.
“We don’t have a motive,” Newsham said at a Thursday news conference.
He also said that Crawford did not cooperate with police, has a criminal history and that investigators are still combing through it. They will look into whether or not Crawford has any mental health issues.
“We feel very confident that we have in our custody the person responsible for this murder,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
Police found Crawford 14th and Girard streets NW Wednesday night.
Wendy Martinez, 35, was fatally stabbed while running shortly before 8 p.m. at 11th and P streets NW.
“It’s unsettling for anyone who lives in this city to see this happen. It’s an isolated incident. I’m sure that doesn’t bring any level of comfort to the Martinez family,” Newsham said.
Bowser said that Martinez was “brutally murdered.”
“We expect people to feel safe in any neighborhood. …Logan Circle or Wellington Park. This is an outraged community. This is a woman who should have been going to work today,” she said.
Bowser called the stabbing “damaging to our senses of safety.”
Martinez’s family says she was recently engaged.
A friend of Martinez, Kristina Moore, tearfully read a family statement following the news conference.
“We are heartbroken,” Moore said. “Wendy should have been shopping for her wedding dress on Friday. There is a hole in our hearts that will never be replaced.”
A vigil will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, and the family is hoping to hold it at Logan Circle.
They expressed their gratitude to Mayor Bowser and the D.C. police for the swiftness of Crawford’s arrest.
After the attack, Martinez staggered into a nearby Chinese carryout restaurant where bystanders, including a nurse, assisted her, but she later died from her injuries at the hospital.
She was an avid runner.
Martinez graduated from Georgetown in 2012, where she majored in Latin American Studies. Georgetown’s Center for Latin American Studies tweeted out their condolences for the center’s former student.
We write to share the very sad news of the tragic death of Wendy Karina Martinez (CLAS’2012), who was attacked last night in Logan Circle. Our thoughts and prayers are with Wendy and her family and friends at this terribly difficult time https://t.co/hHDU4AdbYB pic.twitter.com/fic8Ispla8
— Georgetown CLAS (@GeorgetownCLAS) September 19, 2018
Martinez was also a volunteer with CARECEN — the Central American Resource Center.
CARECEN is a nonprofit that provides legal services to Latinos.
“Wendy gave back to the immigrant community by enthusiastically tutoring students as they prepared for the U.S. naturalization exam. Wendy will be missed by the CARECEN community, but will live on through the students she helped to achieve U.S. citizenship, including Don Roberto, pictured here,” the nonprofit said in a Facebook post.
WTOP’s Neal Augenstein, Jennifer Ortiz, Megan Cloherty and Nahal Amouzadeh contributed to this report.
