N.C. Man Arrested in D.C. After Daughter, 4, Is Beheaded

U.S. marshals arrested a North Carolina man at a downtown Washington hotel early yesterday on suspicion that he decapitated his 4-year-old daughter.

Patrick Violette, 37, was taken into custody by federal agents about 4:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn in the 400 block of New Jersey Avenue NW. Police in North Carolina had found Violette's vehicle at Raleigh-Durham International Airport and learned he took a flight to Washington, said Lt. Jon Gerrell of the Clayton, N.C., police.

Investigators tracked his credit card activity to the hotel, according to a Marshals Service news release.

Police in Clayton, about 15 miles southeast of Raleigh, have not determined the motive for the killing or an exact timeline of how it took place. On Thursday, Violette quit his job at a Lowe's hardware store in Garner, N.C., and spent the following day alone with his daughter. Gerrell said Violette's wife, Amber, called 911 at 4:43 p.m. Friday and said she had come home from work and found the body of their daughter, Katlin. Her head had been severed.

Violette is being held as a fugitive by U.S. marshals in the District. If extradited to North Carolina, Gerrell said, Violette will be charged with first-degree murder.

Lori McCreary, a neighbor of the Violettes, told the Associated Press that the family was "very private but normal."

"They went to church every Sunday. They just seemed like a very happy, normal couple," she said. "This is just so very, very shocking -- and devastating."

The arrest was "just very organized," said Sally Ifill, director of operations at the Holiday Inn. "They scouted the hotel for 10 minutes to determine how to block escape routes before making the arrest in the room."

Staff writer Theola Labbé contributed to this report.