Woman killed in carjacking in Northern Virginia – NBC4 Washington

A mother of four and grandmother of eight grandchildren was killed in Sterling, Virginia, on Sunday after someone stole her car outside a shopping center, authorities said.

Melody Waldecker, 54, had just entered a 7-Eleven at the Town Center at Sterling shopping center when she noticed a man getting into her Kia Serento and tried to stop him, her family members said.

Waldecker, of Silver Spring, Maryland, was fatally injured. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office has not released details about how she died.

“Witnesses on scene say she may have been thrown from the vehicle. It is unknown whether she was hit,” the police audio broadcast said.

Officers quickly received a description of the suspect and the car before issuing an AID based on police radio traffic. Within minutes, witnesses reported seeing the suspect in the stolen Kia ram a car on Argonne Avenue and then speed away. He was then spotted a short distance away at Cedar Lake Plaza before officers and state police spotted the car near the intersection of Frederick Drive and Leatherleaf Drive.

“According to local Fairfax units, they now have the suspect at bay with a weapon,” someone said in the police audio.

After receiving reports that the Kia was damaged and making loud squeaking noises, officers searched the area.

The manhunt ended in Trumpet Circle. The sheriff’s office said a suspect was arrested, but no name or further information has been released.

Waldecker was killed shortly after visiting her sick mother, family members told News4.

On her Facebook page, she shows herself taking care of her mother and taking her grandchildren to an Orioles game at Camden Yards.

Waldecker worked as a nurse at a nursing home in Montgomery County and lovingly cared for her family, relatives said.