Police are seeking the public's help to find out why and how a 43-year-old Alexandria woman was killed on the Fourth of July.
Around 11:30 a.m. last Friday, police responded to the 5600 block of Derby Court to find Asabech Abayneh dead in the two bedroom apartment she shared with her older sister, Sekirte Worku, in Alexandria. An autopsy ruled the death a homicide. Abayneh was strangled, News4’s Shomari Stone reported.
The night before, Abayneh and Worku ate dinner together and watched TV before going to bed, Stone reported. Worku said she heard nothing unusual overnight.
“Please find my sister’s killer,” she pleaded Friday.
This is the third homicide this year in Alexandria.
News4's Darcy Spencer spoke with the woman's family last week; they say Abayneh, 43, moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia nine years ago and had been working as a cook for five years at Birhan Market Restaurant.
“She's like a mother to us,” Mulugeta Wegayehu said at the restaurant. “She's the finest person you can ever meet.”
"This is a big loss to everybody, especially my mom," said her nephew, Yonas Mekonen. "It's a real tragedy."
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Just like Alexandria police, her family is seeking answers.
"I'm trying to figure out what really happened," Mekonen said. "It just doesn't make sense."
Anyone with information about Abayneh or anyone who contacted her in the past six months should call 703-746-6689.
