| BoA Originator Murdered
Suspect apprehended in Sherine Williams murder March 15, 2005 By PATRICK CROWLEY |
| When family members of Sherine Williams hadn’t heard from the Bank of America mortgage loan officer, they became worried.She wasn’t answering the phone or the door at her Sterling, Va., apartment. So just after 8 p.m. on the night of Jan. 24 Williams’ brother and sister climbed through a first floor window into her apartment.
Once inside they made a horrible discovery — Williams’ lifeless body lying on the floor. A few days later the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office announced in a written statement that they were searching for a murder suspect, 28-year-old Daunteril Maurice Hall. Hall was already wanted for felony malicious wounding and obstruction of justice from an incident that occurred last summer when he allegedly hit a woman with his fist and beat her with a stick. He was reportedly traveling with a teenager who had been reported missing by her family. Just a few days later, Hall was apprehended a few hundred miles away in Canton, Ohio, where he lived as a child. Police approached him as he was walking down a street, according to the sheriff’s office. “Hall attempted to flee the area on foot but was chased down by members of the Canton Police Department and a K9 unit,” authorities said. The dog tracked Hall to where he was hiding under a porch in a residential neighborhood. He was arrested and taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for a minor foot injury he received while running from the dog, police said. The FBI assisted in tracking down Hall, who waived extradition during an Ohio court appearance and was returned to Virginia. In addition to the outstanding warrant and being a suspect in Williams’ murder, Hall also faces federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Hall is being held without bond at the Loudon County Adult Detention Center. The teen that was with Hall was not harmed and was also returned to Virginia, authorities said. Police have not said how Williams died, nor have they publicly discussed her relationship with Hall. Police have said the two knew one another, but they have not elaborated. The coroner has ruled her death a homicide, but Hall has not yet been charged in the case. Williams, 24, had worked for about three years as a data entry clerk and loan officer at a Bank of America office near her apartment. She was a native of the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Friends were trying to raise money to pay for Williams’ funeral, according to a story in The Washington Post. Dolly Viegas-Chavez, a family friend, reportedly told the paper that the Williams’ had “no clue” why someone would kill the young woman. She described the Williams family as “down-to-earth, private people.” “I don’t think the questions the family has will ever be answered,” she reportedly said. “It’s so hard to even think that this poor girl was actually murdered.” |
|
Patrick Crowley is a political reporter and columnist and former business writer for The Cincinnati Enquirer. Email Patrick at: [email protected] |
