The deputy director for operations in the Washington, D.C., Department of Corrections was found slain yesterday morning in suburban Alexandria, Va., the Washington Post reports. She was Carolyn Cross, 64. Police charged Dawit Seyoum, 29 of Alexandria with murder. Cross lived in an apartment in the block in which she was found. It was not immediately clear if the killing was connected with her job.
If the murder proves to be work-related, it would prompt alarm in the corrections field. Last year, Tom Clements, Colorado’s corrections director, was shot dead at his home in Monument, Co. after answering the door. His apparent killer was Evan Ebel, 28, a white supremacist who had recently been released from prison. Ebel himself died from injuries after crashing in a chase with Texas law enforcement authoriteis two days after Clements was shot. Some corrections officials increased their own security after the Clements episode.