The D.C. Snipers Terrorized Residents Around the Capital — How Were They Caught?
The so-called D.C. Snipers aided in their own capture.
Published Oct. 29 2025, 5:41 p.m. ET
On Oct. 2, 2002, 55-year-old James D. Martin, a program analyst for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was fatally shot in front of a grocery store in Wheaton, Md.
His death was the first of 17 murders that were eventually known as the D.C. Sniper Attacks. According to CNN, there were killings almost every day through Oct. 22. Not everyone died, as 10 other people were injured.
This three-week period paralyzed the District as well as the surrounding areas. Residents were told to walk in a zigzag fashion to avoid being shot. Police offered little comfort as they had few answers.
When the individuals responsible were arrested and interrogated, police learned they might have been responsible for murders in other states. How did law enforcement catch the so-called D.C. Sniper? Here's what we know.
How did law enforcement catch the D.C. Snipers?
A break in the case happened on Oct. 17 when, according to the FBI, a person claiming to be the sniper called the Bureau to confess to a murder in Alabama. An agent from the FBI office in Mobile collected the fingerprint and ballistic evidence from that crime scene, then flew to Washington, D.C. on Oct. 21.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms handled the ballistic evidence while the FBI looked into the fingerprints.
The following day, the fingerprint database spit out the name Lee Boyd Malvo, who had previously been arrested in Washington state. Another name came up in Malvo's arrest records: John Allen Muhammad.
Agents in Tacoma recognized Muhammad's name from a tip. ATF agents informed the FBI that Muhammed had a Bushmaster .223 rifle in his possession, which was a federal violation as he had been served with a restraining order from his ex-wife.
The gun violation is what enabled agents to charge Muhammad with federal weapons violations. Because he and Malvo were connected, the FBI and ATF jointly obtained a federal material witness warrant for the 17-year-old. A description of a car registered to Muhammad was sent to the media, which was spotted the evening of Oct. 23.
The next morning, law enforcement arrested Muhammad and Malvo, who went without a struggle.
Where are John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo today?
United States Attorney General John Ashcroft made sure this case went to trial in Virginia because it had the death penalty. Muhammad was charged with murder, terrorism, conspiracy, and the illegal use of a firearm.
He was found guilty and sentenced to death for the murder of Dean Meyers. According to NBC News, he was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences for the six people he killed in Maryland.
He was executed Nov. 10, 2009, at the Greensville Correctional Center near Jarratt, Va.
Malvo, who was a minor at the time of the attacks, was charged with the murder of FBI analyst Linda Franklin "in the commission of an act of terrorism" and the murder of more than one person in a three-year period, per CNN.
He was convicted in March 2003 in the Commonwealth of Virginia and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. He pleaded guilty in connection with the six murders in Maryland and received the same sentence.
In September 2024, WTOP reported that Malvo was being transferred from Virginia’s supermax prison, Red Onion State Prison, to Keen Mountain Correctional Center.
He was denied parole two years earlier.