Ashley Turton, Former Hill Staffer, Dies in Car Fired (Wife of WH Liaison to House)

[Hissyspit]

Source: Roll Call

Ashley Turton, Former Hill Staffer, Dies in Car Fire

* By Rachael Bade and Jessica Brady
* Roll Call Staff
* 10:57 a.m.

Ashley Turton, former chief of staff to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and wife of White House liaison to the House of Representatives Dan Turton, was found dead in her car Monday morning.

- snip -

According to the D.C. Fire and Metropolitan Police departments, Turton’s car was discovered ablaze in a row house garage, presumably the Turton home, in the 800 block of A Street Southeast near Eastern Market.

Metropolitan Police Lt. Nicholas Breul said there is a joint investigation into the cause of the accident. Homicide detectives have been called to the scene.

“This could be just a tragic freak accident,” Breul said. “And that’s why we’re crossing our i’s and dotting our t’s because it is a little freaky, and we need to figure out why. But there is no indication now that there was any crime.”

Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/news/-202282-1.html

[xchrom]

1. Oy. Grizzly way to go. Nt

[gkhouston]

8. That's what happens when your vehicle spontaneously combusts after being laid off.

Being in a car fire must be nightmarish.

[Occulus]

22. That's 'grisly'.

A 'grizzly' way to go somehow involves Sarah Palin.

....okay, that was bad. Mea culpa.

[gvstn]

2. Thanks for the post.

I've always wondered about this Delaware case where they changed state law to seal the autopsy results in a similar car fire. http://www.rcfp.org/news/2006/0406-foi-offici.html

Seems very strange that the public does not have the right to know what caused someone to die in a car sitting in a parking lot. I would think it would be a public safety issue on how to avoid a similar fate.

[gvstn]

5. Found a different link

Mrs. Turton was involved in a vehicle crash, it is not related to a spontaneous car fire. http://www.nationaljournal.com/member/congress/former-aide-found-dead-on-capitol-hill-20110110

My sympathies to her husband and family.

[hlthe2b]

6. That article is incredibly vague.

I got the impression reading it that the crash into the garage occurred with the car already on fire. I do not believe it answers any questions, but rather raises more.

[wordpix]

32. another one here, shows some of the fire damage

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/01/10/911501/dc-lobbyist-wife-of-white-house.html

[SugarShack]

36. This should be #1 post! The reasons don't make sense and now they ask BMW???

Right on the heels of the merger...with the most corrupt state in the union, Florida, according to the St. Pete Times. A merger between Progress Energy and Duke Energy....the largest energy merger.

I smell a rat! Where are all the DU researchers?????

[laylah]

3. Sorry, but I MUST...

"...we’re crossing our i’s and dotting our t’s...". I am sorry to hear of the demise of this woman, and in such a tragic way! May she be at peace, my thoughts/prayers go out to her and the loved ones left behind. :hug:

Jenm

[JDPriestly]

4. I know someone whose car just caught fire as she was starting

it in a parking lot. There is a lot of electrical wiring in a car that is in fairly close proximity to ignitable substances.

If anyone who knows about mechanics could advise on how to avoid this sort of thing, it might be helpful.

[goforit]

7. Another one of Palin's crosshairs?

[Ian David]

9. Ashley Turton, Congressional Affairs Director, Found Dead In Burning Car: Politico

Source: Politico and Roll Call (via Huffington Post)

Ashley Turton, director of congressional affairs for Progress Energy, was found dead in a burning car Monday morning in Washington, Politico reports. Turton's husband is White House deputy director of House legislative affairs, Dan Turton.

According to the Washington Post, "a preliminary investigation indicated that the car crashed into the garage of a home in the 800 block of A Street SE."

Roll Call reports that neighbors say the fire started at approximately 5:00 AM. " Breul said fire officials were at the scene two minutes after neighbors dialed 911. When the fire was extinguished, firefighters discovered Turton’s body inside the car."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/10/ashley-turton-dead-car_n_806780.html

---

Hat-tip to: http://twitter.com/GottaLaff/status/24555604710260737

[movonne]

10. Very strange...

[shraby]

11. A lot of information not here..her age which could be

pertinent as to why the car crashed into a garage. Is it her garage? Did she have a heart attack or stroke? Did the crash cause the fire or something else? Cause of death will have to wait for an autopsy though.

[zazen]

12. she was 37; Progress Energy lobbyist (they just announced merger with Duke Energy)

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/paul-duggan/-the-wife-of-a.html

Very weird and sad. She was an NC State University alum as well.

Her organization was all abuzz with this merger, just announced.

from article:

"Turton was the wife of Daniel A. Turton, 43, the White House's deputy director of legislative affairs for the U.S. House. As such, he is President Obama's point man on legislation moving through the House.

He and Ashley Turton, who have three children, were a Washington power couple well known in Democratic circles. She was a lobbyist for North Carolina-based Progress Energy, which announced a merger Monday with Duke Energy.

"Ashley was a valued employee whose insight and hard work had been critical on so many of our legislative and regulatory issues," Bill Johnson, president and chief executive of the company, said in a statement. "She was also a dear friend to many of us and this news is very hard to take.""

[TygrBright]

13. Wow... the comments in the WaPo story are...

...disturbing. Ugly, and disturbing.

Some nice ones, though.

Very odd all around.

curiously,
Bright

[wordpix]

26. most DC lobbyists aren't driving to work at 5 am so this is very strange AND

she lived on Capitol Hill, which is not far from Progress Energy's DC office and a quick metro ride.

[October]

30. I read somewhere she was heading to the airport... /nt

[wordpix]

31. OK, that's plausible, then

[October]

37. Well, it makes the "time" of the incident more understandable, but

this is an odd story.

I mean, the BMW in the photo doesn't look very fire-damaged. And, what kind of impact/accident could have occurred while backing out? I'm not an expert... this could just be a freak accident, but it's normal to have questions. No one seems to be wondering.

[FLPanhandle]

14. Odd, cars don't normally burst into flames after a wreck.

Well, not since the Ford Pinto anyway.

I wonder if it hit something flammable or was on fire before the impact.

[Xithras]

18. She hit a garage.

Many garages contain both flammable liquids and potential sources of ignition. Highly flammable materials like paper could also rapidly burst into flames as well, if they are pulled under the car or into the engine compartment during the collision and come into contact with hot exhaust system components. I once knew a guy who burned his garage down because he'd placed a couple pieces of cardboard onto his garage floor to catch oil drips. The cardboard caught the edge of the catalytic converter as he was pulling in one day, and it burst into flame just as he was getting out of the car. By the time he got his hose pulled out and turned on, it was too late.

Who knows what she hit in there.

[wordpix]

27. at 5 am she hits something in the garage? She just came in from carousing with 3 kids at home?

too weird

[JDPriestly]

15. Did she die before or after she entered the car?

[bpj62]

16. BMW All Wheel Drive

I saw this on the local news this morning and my first thought was that this was not an accident. The car was a silver BMW double and from the rear it looked new. I think the fire was set to cover up the real crimwe that occurred.

[wordpix]

28. I smell foul play, too

[littlewolf]

17. This is sad ...small kids now motherless ....

it seems unusual ... but am without anything until more info becomes available ...
but I feel for the kids ... set of twins 3 years old ... and a 1 year old baby ....
:cry:

[Rex]

19. This one I'll wait for information on; not like sticking a gun to someones

head and pulling the trigger...could have been a freak accident.

[Ruby the Liberal]

20. Something isn't right here.

BMWs don't just 'explode' and even if one did, why didn't the gas tank blow? No smoke on the windows either. There is more to this than a 'slow moving garage accident'. Fire fighters got to the scene within minutes, yet the beam is toast and she died that quickly? The {assumed} explosion didn't wake her family?

I wonder if a propane tank went up. Regardless, something isn't right here. /tinfoil

[glinda]

21. This seems a bit odd doesn't it? High profile individual also.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

23. and a Democrat -nt

[glinda]

25. It is getting to the point where I don't even have to look up Party affiliation.

[JI7]

29. there is that strange case of Wheeler who is a republican

this one is strange also . but it could just be she fell asleep or something else where she lost control. but it could be other things also.

[Peace Patriot]

33. Yup, second strange death of DC insider in a week...

John P. Wheeler--the man behind the Vietnam War Memorial--and a top Defense Department consultant for the very powerful, very well-connected (five federal R&D contracts or, rather, official R&D centers) Mitre Corporation which runs the software for USAF aviation, among other things--was murdered on Dec. 30-31 and his body dumped in a New Jersey landfill.

Very odd circumstances around his death. I don't see any obvious connection, except that both deaths raise a whole lot of questions as to what really happened. Wheeler's death really spins my tinfoil-hat-o-meter. Something there.

I've done two threads on it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x134679
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x152279

One question that obviously needs answering: Is there any connection between Duke Energy and Mitre Corporation? For instance, does Mitre do their software or their security high tech? Or could nuclear energy systems be the common ground?

I'm going to see what Google comes up with.

[Hutzpa]

24. Republicans has just won the house

and they are flexing their muscles.

Suddenly we have birds falling from the skies;

Lone shooter targeting a Congresswoman;

and now a White House senior staffer's wife dies a mysterious death.... hmmmm.

One has to wonder.

Whats next????

[NoodleyAppendage]

34. Hours after a 23 billion dollar utility company merger...hmm... Sounds VERY fishy. n/t

J

[Empowerer]

35. Sometimes people have terrible accidents

I find the speculation here and elsewhere- not to mention the nasty insinuations - without any proof to be ghoulish and very disturbing.

This is a horrible tragedy for her poor husband and their family. Unfortunately, sometimes devastating accidents happen to people - everything is not a sinister conspiracy.

My heart and prayers are with Dan Turton and his children. May they find peace and comfort in this very sad time.