The director of the mayor's Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs was found dead after being stabbed in her home Wednesday afternoon.
Wanda Alston, an executive member of Mayor Anthony Williams' cabinet, was found dead in her home in Northeast D.C. on Wednesday evening by paramedics who responded to a report of an unconscious person, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report.
Police arrested a neighbor of Alston's, William Parrot, 38, on Thursday, after they found Alston's Nissan Sentra. Parrot was found a few blocks from the car. An anonymous tipster called police after seeing the car in a Southeast neighborhood, according to The Washington Post.
The arrest "provides us with some sense of closure and resolution to this horrible loss," Williams told reporters Friday.
Williams and other political activists were present Saturday for a memorial service held in Alston's honor. Mindy Michels, director of AU's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Resource Center, attended the service at Luther Place Memorial Church.
The standing-room-only crowd comprised at least several hundred people, according to Michels.
"Wanda was just amazing," said Michels, who knew Alston through her work on the mayor's toy drive in conjunction with the GLBTA community. "Not enough words can describe her ... She was feisty, funny and always had something to say. She was just a totally dynamic person and always stood up for what she believed in.
"Wanda was a very savvy political person, and not in the smarmy kind of way. She understood how to make things work and was very instrumental in the gay and African-American community."
Alston joined the mayor's office in August 1999 as his liaison to the U.S. Census Bureau. She later became director of operations for the Office of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice, according to The Post.
Alston also worked as a National Organization for Women volunteer, organizing five national marches and helping to lead a NOW delegation to the World Conference on Women in Beijing, according to The Post.
"Wanda Alston's contributions to the people of this city were beyond measure," Williams said. "This is a huge loss."
According to Michels, Alston would never go down without a fight.
"She's probably saying, why are all these people sitting and crying about me," Michels said.
A viewing for Alston will be held this morning at 9:30. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. at All Souls Unitarian Church in Columbia Heights.
