WASHINGTON – D.C. police have arrested a suspect in the killing of an artist who was found tied up and fatally stabbed last week in her Capitol Hill apartment.
The suspect was identified as El Hadji Alpha Madiou Toure, 28, of no fixed address. He was charged with first-degree murder while armed and theft.
At a press conference with Mayor Muriel Bowser, Acting D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said that Toure was wanted in Tennessee on a probation violation.
Corrina Mehiel, 34, who lived in North Carolina and was visiting the District of Columbia for an art exhibit at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, was found dead the afternoon of March 21 inside a home in the 600 block of 14th Street NE. Her missing Toyota Prius was found over the weekend.
A police report said that Mehiel was in her back bedroom and tied with bedding and clothing.
Newsham said Mehiel and Toure did not know each other and there was no evidence at this time that Mehiel had been sexually assaulted. The chief said authorities received “numerous tips” but one was “instrumental” in leading to an arrest.
Newsham said he could not speak to the motive. Police would not give details as to where Mehiel’s car was found.
Mehiel had been here for the past several months working with well-known artist Mel Chin on a Corcoran exhibit called “The Fundred Reserve.” It consists of hand-drawn $100 bills that visitors create and are used to highlight the dangers of lead poisoning and “remind us that every child’s future has value.”
Police said Mehiel was last seen March 19 at the Corcoran, although Chin said she had dinner with friends at his apartment that evening.
Chin said Monday by email that he does not recognize the person being sought by police. “I have been looking at gatherings of people at the Reserve openings and pushing my thoughts to anyone who might resemble the person in the photo,” he said, adding, “We are still grieving and remain deeply unsettled.”
(c) 2017, The Washington Post ยท Peter Hermann
