WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Virginia man has been sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted of kidnapping and assaulting his former girlfriend during a violent overnight ordeal that began in Manassas, Virginia, and ended in Northeast Washington, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Adam Ahmed, 38, of Chantilly, was sentenced for kidnapping, strangulation, felony threats, and assault following a jury conviction in June. Ahmed’s sentences—six years for kidnapping, 42 months for strangulation, 28 months for each of two felony threats, and 180 days for assault—will run concurrently.
Prosecutors said the incident began on May 10, 2024, when Ahmed’s former girlfriend agreed to meet him outside her home in Manassas, believing they would talk about their relationship. Instead, Ahmed drove off with her against her will, telling her they were “both going to die tonight.” He took her into Washington, D.C., where he assaulted and threatened her throughout the night.
Authorities said that at one point, Ahmed strangled the victim with both hands until she could not breathe and bit her mouth during the attack. He later stopped at a Shell gas station on Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE, where a passerby saw him hitting the victim, intervened, and called 911, leading to Ahmed’s arrest.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that the case underscores the dangers of strangulation in domestic violence incidents. Expert witnesses testified during the trial that victims who have been strangled by a partner are significantly more likely to later be victims of attempted or completed homicide.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro and Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith jointly announced the sentence, commending the victim’s courage and the witnesses who intervened.