(WSVN) - A manhunt is on after a woman was stabbed to death while jogging in a Washington D.C. neighborhood.
Police say 35-year-old Wendy Martinez was the victim of a random attack.
According to family members, the newly-engaged Martinez grew up in Palm Beach County and moved up to Washington D.C. for college.
Martinez went for a jog Tuesday evening, as she’d done countless times before, but she never came home.
Police said Martinez was an avid runner and was known to run for miles around the city. She lived near where the attack happened.
Surveillance video shows Martinez jogging, and while being apparently cautious, she glances back at a man she passed on the street.
Seconds later, she’s seen running into a Chinese carry-out restaurant after being stabbed by a man she encountered around the corner.
“We believe a single assailant stabbed her,” said Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham. “The stab wounds were very serious in nature; very significant in nature.”
Martinez was rushed to the hospital, but succumbed to her injuries upon arrival.
Police canvassed the neighborhood Wednesday as they continue to search for the killer.
“Very chilling,” said one woman who lives in the area. “Actually very chilling. Like my heart rate has gone up.”
Police released video of a person of interest. In it, he is seen walking through the neighborhood.
The Martinez family is urging anyone with information about his whereabouts to come forward as they transition from planning Wendy’s wedding to planning her funeral.
The apparent random murder of Martinez has a lot of people in the vibrant Washington D.C. neighborhood changing their habits.
“One of the ladies in the neighborhood was concerned about going home just from walking from the laundromat, the Logan Circle laundromat, so we walked her home,” said one woman.
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