Catherine Hill

Dear [First name of recipient]:

Perhaps there is nothing more difficult in this life than to lose a child. It is not quite a year since my daughter Dana was killed. The pain is still real and the memory of those difficult days is still close.

Nothing could have made Dana’s death easier or more difficult than it was for me. But part of the pain of the memory is the way my family and my daughter’s life was portrayed by the police. Dana had struggled, as many of our young people have, but she was a daughter, and a mother, and a human being who deserved dignity in death as well as in life.

I do not believe that my daughter’s murder would have ever been solved if this community had not rallied around and embraced me, my family, and the families of other victims. My daughter was one of six women to die in our part of the Petworth neighborhood. At first, local police denied the possibility of a serial killer and said the deaths were unrelated. They attacked my daughter and others for their lifestyles, as if that explained, even excused, the brutality that was perpetrated against them. When a brutal serial killer was found there was no apology.

I will never forget the help and support so many of you gave me. But most of all, I want to thank Councilmember Frank Smith. Frank was there from the beginning, listening to us, advocating for us, making the police listen to us. My daughter’s killer would never have been found, I believe, without Frank.

My gratitude toward Frank Smith is not about politics. It is about love of this community and his love and leadership in holding us together in those difficult times. I hope that as we move toward as a community of neighbors, we can continue with people like Frank Smith representing us — people we can count on when we need help the most.

Sincerely,

Catherine Hill

Paid for by Friends of Frank Smith, Jr.
924 U Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001
Ron Linton, Treasurer