Cabdriver's Death Is Fairfax's 13th Homicide of Year

The man who was found dead in a taxicab parked at Tysons Corner on Sunday was identified yesterday as Mazhar Nazir, and his death has been declared a homicide.

Nazir, 49, lived in the 3400 block of Spring Lane in the Falls Church area, just north of Baileys Crossroads in Fairfax County.

An autopsy was performed yesterday morning, and Officer Don Gotthardt, a Fairfax police spokesman, the cause of death was "trauma to the upper body."

He declined to be more specific while the investigation is continuing.

Nazir was an independent cab operator in the District, police said.

A resident saw Nazir's cab parked in the 8400 block of Greensboro Drive, near an office complex just north of Route 7, about 7 a.m. Sunday.

The same resident noticed that the cab had not moved six hours later and that someone was inside. Police were called, and they found Nazir in the driver's seat.

Police had no suspects yesterday in the county's 13th homicide this year.

They do not know whether Nazir was robbed, Gotthardt said. Detectives are trying to determine when Nazir was last seen and where he had been before the cab ended up at Tysons Corner.

Murder charges have been filed in nine of the Fairfax homicide cases this year.

The slayings of Odis Reyes Lazo on Jan. 26 in Huntington, Michael A. Ross in Penn Daw on May 10 and Faridullah Abbasi on June 7 in Lorton are the other cases that remain under investigation.