Adam Ahmed, 38, was convicted and sentenced after kidnapping his former girlfriend on May 10, 2024, driving her from Manassas, Va., into Northeast Washington, D.C., and subjecting her to hours of assault and strangulation. The victim escaped when a passerby intervened at a Shell gas station and called 911. Ahmed received concurrent prison terms, including six years for kidnapping and additional sentences for strangulation, threats and assault. Prosecutors highlighted expert testimony that survivors of nonfatal strangulation face a substantially increased risk of later homicide.
Virginia Man Sentenced After Kidnapping and Strangling Ex-Girlfriend — Victim Rescued by Stranger
Getty
A Virginia woman survived a prolonged and brutal assault after her former boyfriend kidnapped her, drove her across state lines into Washington, D.C., and repeatedly assaulted and strangled her before a passerby intervened, federal prosecutors said.
The Crime
Prosecutors identified the defendant as 38-year-old Adam Ahmed of Chantilly, Virginia. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the attack began on May 10, 2024, when the victim agreed to get into Ahmed’s car outside her home in Manassas, Va., expecting to sit and talk about their relationship. Instead, Ahmed drove erratically, told the victim they were "going to die tonight," and said that if she charged him with abduction he would carry it out.
Ahmed drove the victim onto Interstate 66 and into Northeast Washington, D.C., where, over the course of several hours, he repeatedly assaulted and threatened to kill her. At one point he warned he was taking her somewhere "no one would find her." When the vehicle stopped, prosecutors said, Ahmed climbed over the victim and strangled her with both hands until she could not breathe; during the attack he also bit her and placed his mouth over hers.
Rescue and Arrest
The pair later stopped at a Shell gas station on Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE. When Ahmed briefly walked away from the car the victim tried to flee, but he forced her back into the vehicle. A passerby saw Ahmed striking the woman, drove into the gas station parking lot, intervened, and called 911. That intervention led to the victim’s rescue and the subsequent prosecution in D.C.
The violence occurred a day after Ahmed had been arrested in Virginia on multiple warrants related to protective order violations and assault charges involving the same woman, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Trial and Sentencing
A jury in D.C. Superior Court convicted Ahmed on multiple counts on June 12, 2025. This month he was sentenced to concurrent prison terms including six years for kidnapping, 42 months for strangulation, two 28-month terms for felony threats, and 180 days for assault.
Expert Testimony and Public Safety Concerns
At trial, expert witnesses explained the serious medical and forensic dangers of strangulation. Prosecutors cited research showing that survivors of nonfatal strangulation face a significantly increased risk of later homicide, underscoring the extreme danger victims face even when they survive an attack.
Resources: If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or visit thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential; help is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
Case prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia’s Sex Offense and Domestic Violence Section, with assistance from the Metropolitan Police Department.
Help us improve.
