A mother of four and grandmother to eight was killed in Sterling, Virginia, Sunday after someone stole her car outside a shopping center, authorities say.
Melody Waldecker, 54, had just walked into a 7-Eleven at the Town Center at Sterling shopping center when she noticed a man getting into her Kia Sorento and tried to stop him, her family members said.
Waldecker, of Silver Spring, Maryland, was fatally hurt. The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office has not said exactly how she died.
“Witnesses on the scene say she may have been ejected from the vehicle. Unknown if she was struck," someone can be heard saying on police dispatch audio.
Deputies quickly got a description of a suspect and the car before broadcasting a lookout, based on police radio traffic. Within minutes, eyewitnesses reported seeing the suspect in the stolen Kia hit a car on Argonne Avenue before taking off. It was then spotted a short distance away at Cedar Lake Plaza before deputies and state police saw the car near the intersection of Frederick Drive and Leatherleaf Drive.
"According to the Fairfax units here, they have the suspect at gunpoint now," someone said on police audio.
Officers saturated the area after getting reports the Kia was damaged and making a loud squealing noise.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
The manhunt ended in Trumpet Circle. The sheriff's office said a suspect was arrested, but they have not yet released a name or any further information.
Waldecker was killed a short time after she had gone to visit her ailing mother, family members told News4.
Her Facebook page shows her taking care of her mother and going to an Orioles game at Camden Yards with her grandsons.
Waldecker worked as a caregiver at a nursing home in Montgomery County and was dedicated to her family, relatives said.
