At 1:20 this afternoon, 40-year-old Joseph Washington was apprehended in Waldorf, Maryland by members of the Joint Fugitive Task Force composed of law enforcement officers from the Metropolitan Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Marshals Service. He was arrested without incident.

Washington was wanted on a D.C. Superior Court arrest warrant charging him with First Degree Felony Murder in connection with the February 14, 1999 death of 2-year-old Diante Aikens. He will be arraigned in D.C. Superior Court when he is extradited to the District of Columbia.

Diante's mother, 30-year-old Alma Eleanor Cole, was arrested yesterday by D.C. police. She has also been charged with first degree murder in this case.

On Sunday, February 14, 1999, at 6:34 am, police and DCFD emergency medical technicians responded to the defendants' residence, apartment #209 of 4228 Benning Road, NE, for the report of an unconscious person. Subsequently, Diante Aikens was transported to D.C. General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 6:58 am.

An autopsy performed by the D.C. Medical Examiner's Office determined that Diante died as the result of blunt force trauma injuries.