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By
D.C. Witness Staff
- February 2, 2017
Homicides
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Suspects
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A GPS ankle bracelet placed murder suspect Deangelo Thorne, 27, at the scene where the body of 23-year-old Waliyatou Amadou was found, according to a warrant for his arrest.
Thorne is currently being held without bond as he faces second-degree murder charges.
Around 8 p.m. on Jan. 8., Amadou’s body was found inside the apartment building at 1424 W Street after police responded to a report of an unconscious woman. Police found Amadou lying face down on the ground near a basement laundry room, with multiple stab wounds to her torso. Amadou was brought to a local hospital where the coroner ruled her cause of death the result of five torso stab wounds.
According to surveillance footage described in the warrant, a man wearing dark clothing, donning a jacket with a small light colored emblem on the upper left chest area, is seen walking in the alleyway behind the building where Amadou was killed. In the same video, Amadou can be seen carrying a backpack.
Another camera from the inside of the building showed Amadou and the man in dark clothing meet in a hallway. Together they enter an open door in the hallway and exit less than minute later.
Once back in the hallway, Amadou begins walking towards the man until his back hits an exit to the building. Amadou appears to hit the man though it’s unclear if she makes contact, and the man retaliates by pushing Amadou.
The man appears to hit Amadou multiple times in the torso area. The man stops his attack, and Amadou falls face first to the ground. The man grabs something from the ground then flees the building to the nearby alleyway.
At the time of the murder, Thorne was wearing a GPS monitor, for drug-related charges. The GPS placed Thorne in the alleyway behind the building where the murder occurred. The report also indicates that Thorne’s tracker left the incident location at the same time the man in the video fled the scene.
The day after the murder, Thorne told his probation officer that someone other than him had cut off his ankle monitor the day before the murder. The police found the tracker at the house of one of Thorne’s relatives, a mile away from his residence.
On Jan. 2, days before the murder, Thorne was stopped for an unrelated incident and at the time of the stop his description matched the man described in the video: a man wearing dark clothing with a emblem on the chest of his jacket. According to police, Thorne was carrying a knife with a gold handle which was returned to him at the end of the stop.
According to another witness interview, on Jan. 3 Thorne attempted to cut them with the same knife described previously. According to the interview, the witness and Amadou confronted Thorne about whether he sexually assaulted or had consensual sex with Amadou when Thorne pulled the gold-handed knife out.
The same witness was brought into the station after the murder was able to identify Thorne as the person who tried to cut them.
Thorne is expected in court Feb. 7 for a preliminary hearing.