Police: Slain woman was stabbed with scissors

WASHINGTON (AP) — A 45-year-old Montgomery County woman who was found dead this week was fatally stabbed with a pair of scissors, county police said Wednesday.

Police have charged 35-year-old Kensington resident Raymond L. Williams with first-degree murder in Azin Naimi’s slaying. Police said he has confessed to the crime, and he was being held without bond after a hearing Wednesday afternoon.

Police say Williams worked in a warehouse nearby and was not a stranger, though they still haven’t determined a motive.

But Ms. Naimi’s mother says the artist, who had just dashed out for a quick trip to her art studio when she disappeared, didn’t know Williams.

“I never heard of that guy,” Ms. Naimi’s mother Mary Bazargan said Wednesday.

Ms. Naimi’s body was found Monday afternoon in Washington after her mother reported her missing early Monday. Ms. Bazargan said she and her daughter had lived together in North Bethesda for roughly the past 19 months. Ms. Bazargan said her daughter had opted not to visit another relative’s home Sunday evening because she wanted to work on a book she was writing.

Ms. Bazargan said surveillance video shows Ms. Naimi left their home Sunday evening around 7 p.m. with only her phone and keys on her to make a quick trip to her art studio.

When Ms. Bazargan returned home later that evening, she called her daughter’s phone but Ms. Naimi didn’t answer. The worried mother called other family members, police and area hospitals all night, saying it was not like Ms. Naimi to not return home or let her know where she would be.

“I knew something happened because she was very careful for me, always because of me, anywhere she goes she told me or we went together,” Ms. Bazargan said.

Ms. Naimi was an international fine art consultant who worked with heads-of-state and Hollywood on projects involving art procurement and restoration, according to her work website. She was also a painter.

“She was so much international, she spoke many languages very fluently, she was so smart,” Ms. Bazargan said. “I don’t know what I’ll do without her in my life. I had one daughter, so intelligent, so educated.”

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