A 75-year-old woman, Mary Houston, had a regular tradition with her husband, Douglas, that they affectionately called their daily 'date night.' On a Monday in May 2014, this routine took them to a soul food restaurant in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C., for breakfast. After their meal, the female victim excused herself to use the restroom but never came back to their table. Her disappearance sparked immediate concern, particularly as she lived with Alzheimer's disease.
Her family initially feared she had become disoriented and tried to walk the two miles back to her home in the Brookland neighborhood, perhaps collapsing along the way.
This initial theory of a tragic accident was shattered two days later. On Wednesday, May 7, 2014, a construction worker discovered Mary Houston's body in the basement of an empty warehouse in the 800 block of Channing Place NE, just a few blocks from the home she nearly reached. The grim discovery transformed a missing person case into a homicide investigation. The family, who had been preparing for a Mother's Day celebration, was instead confronted with the devastating news that their loved one's life had been violently taken.
An autopsy revealed that Mary Houston had been beaten and strangled. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force injuries and asphyxiation. Investigators from the D.C. police began the arduous task of trying to piece together her final movements, hoping to trace her path from the restaurant using surveillance videos. The motive for the killing was perplexing to both the family and the police. Robbery seemed unlikely, as her jewelry and money were still on her person when she was found. At the time, police had not identified any suspects and no arrests were made in connection with the murder. The case remains a painful and unsolved tragedy for a family who lost a beloved mother, grandmother, and wife.
