Washington Post: Police find remains believed to be those of 17-year-old who went missing in Sterling
June 18, 2017
Police found remains Sunday believed to be those of a missing teenager who they say was assaulted and went missing overnight after leaving a religious institution in the Sterling area.
The institution is the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, according to several members of the mosque, but neither the mosque nor police could immediately confirm that detail.
Fairfax Police spokeswoman Tawny Wright said the remains were found about 3 p.m. in a pond in the 21500 block of Ridegtop Circle in Sterling.
Detectives believe the remains are those of the missing 17-year-old girl, but the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will confirm the identity and manner of death, Wright said. The girl was believed to have gone missing around 4 a.m. Sunday after an altercation with a motorist in the area.
According to Deputy Aleksandra Kowalski, a spokeswoman for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, four or five youths had gone to Town Center Plaza, in the 1100 block of Dranesville Road in Herndon, after an overnight event at a religious institution about a mile away. While they were walking back, Kowalski said, the youths got into an altercation with the man in a vehicle. The youths rushed back to the institution, but reported one of them hadn’t made it back, police said. Kowalski said one of the youths was reported to have been assaulted and went missing.
Later Sunday, an officer spotted a car driving suspiciously in the area of the search and arrested the man, who is now the subject of the investigation. Police in Fairfax and Loudoun counties jointly conducted the search.
A possible hate crime motivation is a line of inquiry with the person police have arrested, police said.
More information was expected to be released at a news conference Sunday evening.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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