D.C. police hope to make an arrest early this week in the death of a D.C. lawyer who was stabbed inside a Dupont neighborhood townhouse, according to the head of the violent crimes branch.
Police were waiting on forensic evidence from the FBI, and could make an arrest in the murder of Robert Wone, 32, depending on the lab results, said Capt. C.V. Morris.
Investigators on Friday finally ended their search for evidence inside the posh townhouse at 1509 Swann St. NW, where Wone, the general counsel for Radio Free Asia, was stabbed to death with a butcher knife 23 days earlier.
“Once we leave, we can’t go back,” said Capt. C.V. Morris.
Police said they were building their case around physical evidence rather than the statements of the three roommates who were home that night.
D.C. detectives brought in FBI experts to examine blood splatter patterns and behavioral specialist to re-create the scene.
They even brought in cadaver dogs to sniff out blood and other evidence that the high-tech devices couldn’t locate. Wone lived in Oakton and was staying at the house of college friend Joseph Price the night he was stabbed three times in the chest, police said.
Price, a partner with the law firm Arent Fox, and his two roommates said they were not in the bedroom where Wone was found dead, police said.
One of the men told police that an intruder broke in through the back door, according to the affidavit.
But police have found no sign of forced entry, and there was nothing out of place or stolen, Morris said.
Wone was stabbed with a butcher knife that belonged to a set of matching knives in the kitchen of the house, according to a police affidavit.
The knife was found on a table next to Wone in what appeared to be the guest bedroom, Morris said.
The crime scene had been tampered with, and the area where the victim’s body was located had been cleaned, according to the affidavit.
Police searched Price’s Connecticut Avenue law office, Morris said.
