Drath Belongings Quietly Auctioned

Estate sale held last weekend

The family of a nonagenarian who was found dead in her Georgetown home more than a year ago has begun dispensing her possessions.

According to Washingtonian, the family of Viola Drath held an estate sale last weekend at the now-infamous house at 3206 Q Street, Northwest. Robert Huber, whose family handled the sale, said that the family requested that a "very low profile" be kept. Among the items sold were furniture, china and silver, art, housewares, and some of Drath's shoes.

The 91-year-old Drath, a journalist and socialite, was found dead in an upstairs bathroom of the house in the early morning hours of August 12, 2011. Drath's husband, 47-year-old Albrecht Muth, was taken into custody in connection with her death less than a week later. In an obituary submitted to The Washington Post, the German-born Muth initially blamed his wife's death on a fall. At a hearing last November, Muth changed his tack, telling a judge Drath's death was a "hit" ordered by Iranian agents. Muth had become notorious among the couple's Georgetown neighbors for wearing a military uniform in public while claiming to be a general in the Iraqi army.

Huber told Washingtonian Muth's possessions had been removed from the house prior to the estate sale and sold separately at his request. Muth is being held at Saint Elizabeths Hospital, where he is awaiting trial. In September, Saint Elizabeths doctors ruled that Muth was competent to stand trial.

"I didn’t want to deal with him," Huber told Washingtonian. "I stayed away from him. I heard stories from neighbors and left it at that."

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