Clayton, N.C. — Authorities in Washington, D.C., are holding a Clayton man for extradition to North Carolina to face charges that he killed his 4-year-old daughter in their home and then fled.

U.S. Marshals, working with information developed in the Triangle, arrested John Patrick Violette, 37, at a Capitol Hill motel in the dark hours of Saturday morning. He is charged with murder in the slaying of Katlin Violette.

"I just got home from work, and I walk in the door and my daughter is in the middle of the hallway," Katlin's mother, Amber Violette, told a 911 dispatcher.

Clayton police found the child had been decapitated when they got to 2020 McKinnon Drive late Friday afternoon.

During the seven-minute 911 phone call, Amber Violette tells the dispatcher her husband had been watching their daughter and that she saw them both at lunchtime. When she returned home, there was no sign of her husband, she said.

A little after 1 a.m. Saturday, Raleigh-Durham International Airport police found a station wagon belonging to Violette in a parking lot. Then investigators tracked Violette Washington.

The marshals took him into custody without incident at a hotel near Capitol Hill at 4:35 a.m. Clayton police Sgt. S. P. Lapsley said.

"We're all very relieved," he said. "This is devastating for the community as a whole, and it's the most horrific thing I've seen in 13 years of police work."

John Violette will remain in custody in Washington pending an extradition hearing. Lapsley said police don't expect to make any more arrests.

Authorities in Clayton said they have not been able to figure out any motive in the killing. John Violette does not have a criminal record, they said.

"When senseless violence occurs, it's tragic enough. But when it includes a child, it's even more tragic for the community," Clayton police Chief Glen Allen said.

John Violette worked at the Lowe's Home Improvement Store in Clayton until Thursday, when he terminated his employment, a store employee told WRAL. Neighbors said he lived at the residence with his wife and daughter.

The crime leaves Clayton trying to cope.
Counselors will be available next week for the first responders who were at the home Friday night, police officials said.

Neighbor Diana Narron said she's worried about what to tell her own 4-year-old daughter.

"I don't know how I will explain that to her," Narron said. "She knows something happened to that little girl."