WASHINGTON — The suspect in the death of a teenage Virginia girl last week was not affiliated with any gangs, Fairfax County police said Wednesday.
Several news organizations reported Tuesday that Darwin Martinez Torres, who is in jail on charges of killing Nabra Hassanen, 17, earlier this month, was a member of the MS-13 gang. The Fairfax County police said in a statement Wednesday that they “looked into whether the suspect … is a gang member or affiliated with gangs, but have found no credible information to support any connection.”
Hassanen went missing in the predawn hours of Sunday, June 18, when she and a group of friends were walking down Dranesville Road from a nearby McDonald’s back to the All Dulles Area Muslim Society mosque, in Sterling, Virginia, where they were taking part in an all-night sleepover event. Her body was found in a pond later that day.
The police charged Martinez Torres the next day. They say he got into an argument with one person in the group and eventually chased them with a baseball bat, catching up to Hassanen and hitting her at least once with the bat. They’re still investigating whether she was sexually assaulted.
The police said at the time that road rage was the likely motivation. They said there is no evidence that it was a hate crime.
Martinez Torres is being held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
