Abdul Jalloh Charged in Fatal Hybla Valley Bus Shelter Stabbing Stephanie Minter

Surveillance footage and interviews led Fairfax County detectives to 32-year-old Abdul Jalloh as the last person seen with 41-year-old Stephanie Minter before she was found dead in a bus-stop shelter at Richmond Highway and Arlington Drive, police said. Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said, "This defendant must be held accountable for his actions."

Officers responded to the bus shelter Monday evening at about 7:16 p.m. and found Minter of Fredericksburg with multiple stab wounds to her upper body, according to the police account. First responders attempted life-saving aid at the scene but Minter was pronounced dead there; her obituary described her as "a beam of light in dark places."

Detectives reviewed surveillance video showing Jalloh and Minter exiting a Richmond Highway bus together and pursued follow-up interviews. The day after the stabbing, at 4:01 p.m. police responded to a suspicious person call in the 8600 block of Richmond Highway in Woodlawn after an employee recognized Jalloh; officers arrested him at that location on a petit larceny/shoplifting complaint and took him to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

After the Feb. 24 arrest, investigators linked Jalloh to the fatal stabbing and on Feb. 25 obtained a warrant charging him with second-degree murder, police said. At the time of the latest reporting Jalloh was being held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center; court records show an expected appearance on April 8.

Jalloh, whose records list no fixed address, has a lengthy arrest history in northern Virginia, including more than a dozen prior bookings in online court records. Those records and prior case files show a forcible rape arrest on Oct. 23, 2018 that was later dropped; a 2018 charge for maliciously shooting into an occupied building that was reduced and resulted in a conviction carrying a 30-day jail sentence and supervised probation; and a January 2023 malicious wounding arrest that was dropped. Prosecutors and court files indicate many previous cases involving Jalloh were reduced or dismissed.

The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said it previously asked that Jalloh’s probation be revoked and added that, "besides issuing subpoenas, they have no ability or authority to physically find or bring people to court." The office also said a judge at a November hearing did not impose the remainder of a sentence and ended probation, a disposition local prosecutors flagged to the court system.

Immigration officials have said Jalloh is in the U.S. illegally, but authorities have not confirmed that a federal immigration detainer has been lodged. Investigators have not announced a motive; police said they continue to probe the circumstances that led to the deadly stabbing and to piece together the timeline from the February 23 bus ride through the Woodlawn arrest the following day.