bowling68
Well-Known Member
An Arlington woman was found dead Friday morning in the house she shared with her young son and daughter, and police say she appeared to have been slain.
Police identified the woman early in the evening as 42-year-old Bonnie Black, but the case remained something of a tragic mystery by about 6 p.m., as authorities declined to release many details, including how she died. They said they had been to the home previously for reported domestic violence and were exploring whether that was connected to the woman’s death, but so far, they had not detained or charged anyone in the case.
Arlington police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck said officers were called to the scene about 7:50 a.m. Friday by a passerby, who spotted two young pajama-clad children, a 5-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, wandering in the yard. They went into the home on the corner of South Kent Street and 18th Street South and found the children’s mother dead inside, Sternbeck said.
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Court records indicate Black was nearing the end of a divorce with her husband and the father of her children, and their relationship — at least in recent years — had been marred by custody disputes, protective orders and police encounters.
Sternbeck said the man had gone voluntarily to police headquarters Friday to be questioned by detectives, but he was neither detained nor charged. He said the man — who lived a few blocks away from the scene — had arrived at the home Friday after apparently being alerted by a neighbor that his children were outside.
“They haven’t told me anything,” he said of the police.
He then said he had to go and hung up the phone.
In filings and at a court hearing, Black said she and the man were
married in 2008, but they had been effectively living apart since October 2013. By her account, she moved that month into the basement of their marital home on 18th Street in Arlington and then moved out in April the following year. A judge in May, however, gave her the rights to that home and primary custody of their children, and she seems to have been living there since. Her husband had visitation rights, court records show.
Black said at a court hearing in December that her husband “was a bit Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. But behind closed doors, he’s a very violent man.” She described instances of physical aggression in recent months, including pushing her and stomping on her feet, and said she was afraid of her husband.
Sternbeck acknowledged there was “a history of possible domestic violence at this location, and we are looking further into that.” He said the children, who were unhurt, were turned over to Child Protective Services officials.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...29f202-e504-11e4-b510-962fcfabc310_story.html