A mother in Virginia was fatally stabbed by an apparent stranger inside of a bus shelter in Fairfax County, police confirmed.
The Fairfax County Police Department said in a press release that officers responded to a bus shelter on Richmond Highway and Arlington Drive in Hybla Valley at 7:16 p.m. on February 23 to conduct a death investigation.
Once authorities arrived at the scene, they found 41-year-old Stephanie Nicole Minter inside the bus stop shelter with multiple stab wounds to her upper body. Officers began to perform life-saving measures as they waited for fire and rescue personnel to arrive. However, they were not able to save Minter, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives launched an investigation into her death and used surveillance footage and witness interviews to identify Abdul Jalloh as the last person seen with the victim, according to police. Investigators said that Minter and Jalloh, 32, were seen leaving a bus at the same time shortly before she was fatally stabbed.
Authorities have not revealed if Minter and Jalloh knew each other prior to the incident.
After Jalloh was named a person of interest in the case, officers responded to a suspicious person call in Woodlawn on February 24 at 4:01 p.m. after an employee working at a nearby business recognized Jalloh and contacted police. Officers then located him and connected him to a larceny that had been reported earlier in the day, and he was later arrested and charged with petit larceny.
However, police said in the press release that detectives eventually concluded that Jalloh was also responsible for Minter’s death and obtained a warrant to charge him with second-degree murder.
He remains held in custody without bond, and it’s not currently clear if he has entered a plea or obtained legal representation.
Police officers have also not publicly shared if they believe Jalloh had a motive for killing Minter.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement on Monday, March 2, explaining that Jalloh entered the United States illegally in 2012 and was in the country without lawful status. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a detainer on February 25, and DHS said that he received a final order of removal from the United States in 2020.
Additionally, the agency said in the statement that Jalloh had been arrested more than 30 times.
Minter’s obituary revealed that she was the mother of one son named Caden Montague. Her loved ones described her as “a happy, jolly individual, filled with love and adoration for her loved ones” and “a beam of light in dark places,” according to the obituary. Minter’s family members also wrote that her death was “a loss felt throughout an entire family and a whole host of friends.”
“Stephanie will be sorely and dearly missed, with the world missing out on that beam of light we came to know so well,” the obituary stated. “Though she has taken new wings, the beauty she brought into this world remains forever in our hearts.”
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