RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – A mother found her 4-year-old daughter decapitated in her home, and the child’s father was arrested early Saturday in Washington.

Amber Violette called 911 on Friday evening, saying she had found her daughter, Katlin, with her head severed from her body, Clayton Police Chief Glen Allen said.

“It’s the most horrific thing I’ve seen in 13 years of police work,” Clayton Sgt. S. P. Lapsley said. Deputy U.S. marshals arrested the girl’s father, John Patrick Violette, in Washington at a hotel near Capitol Hill, Lapsley said. Investigators found Violette’s vehicle at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, learned he had taken a flight to Washington, and tracked his credit card to the hotel, Lapsley said.

Police said Violette, 37, would be held in Washington pending an extradition on a murder charge expected to be filed in Clayton, about 15 miles southeast of Raleigh. The U.S. Marshals Service said an extradition hearing is expected to be held Tuesday.


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