There is heartbreak and confusion for a family in Northeast D.C. 75-year-old Mary Houston, who had been missing all week, was found dead on Wednesday. Police say her body found in the 800 block of Channing Place and have ruled her death a homicide.
This was going to be a big weekend for the family. They were getting together to celebrate Mother’s Day with Houston's children and 35 grandchildren. Now they are planning a funeral and asking why someone would take the life of a person who was beloved.
If you needed a “life of a party,” you did not have to look further than Mary Houston.
"She was sweet, loving, fun,” said Houston’s sister, Millie.
Millie just flew into D.C. for Mother's Day weekend, but was met at the airport with news about her sister that no one wants to hear.
Houston was found in the basement of a warehouse not far from her home.
"I'm still in shock,” said Lillian Dorsey, Houston’s daughter.
Houston had Alzheimer’s. For some reason, she walked out of a lunch date with her husband on Georgia Avenue Monday at noon. Her daughter said Houston could get confused.
"Sometimes she would, sometimes she didn't,” said Dorsey. “But everybody in the neighborhood looked out for her.”
But this is not just a case of a senior citizen who got confused and lost. D.C. police say Houston didn't just die, but she was murdered.
"Mrs. Houston suffered from blunt force trauma and asphyxiation,” said D.C. Police Capt. Robert Alder.
The warehouse where Houston was found is two blocks from where she lived and not far from her church.
Her son-in-law, Roy Haygood, said Houston filled a void in many lives here.
“My own mother died two years ago and I told her you're going to be my mom now,” Haygood told us.
The warehouse also happens to be next door to where she worked at the Old Town Trolley Tours of Washington. Her co-workers can't understand it.
"She was a ray of sunshine,” said Eric Holmes. “She loved bringing delight to any and every one. People she worked with. People she talked to on the telephone.”
At the Houston’s home, her family says at 75 years old, they knew they didn't have many years left with her.
"But for them to come in yesterday and say that someone hurt her, that's when things changed,” Houston’s sister said.
The family told us the main reason they agreed to talk to us is they are hoping someone may have seen Houston between Monday and Wednesday and can fill in what happened.
Police will not say if she had been robbed or was missing any property. They also are not saying if there was a weapon found at the scene.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at (202) 727-9099. A $25,000 reward has been offered for information that leads an arrest and conviction.
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