Child Sex Abuser Accused In Murder Found Dead In Jail

CUMBERLAND, MD — Montgomery County Police held a press conference Thursday afternoon to publicly announce that Fernando Asturizaga, a former Maryland teacher, is a person of interest in the high-profile murder case of Alison Thresher, who disappeared from Bethesda in May 2000. Thursday night, police were notified that Asturizaga was located dead in his jail cell.

Asturizaga was serving an over 100-year sentence at Western Correctional Institution for the sexual abuse of Thresher's daughter, who he babysit and taught Spanish to at the Friends Community School in College Park.

A correctional officer located Asturizaga unresponsive in his jail cell at about 8:45 p.m. He was pronounced deceased, and a death investigation is being conducted by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Internal Investigative Division.

See Related: Former Maryland Teacher Named Person Of Interest In 2000 Murder

Thresher went missing in May 2000, and in February 2001 police said the case was being investigated as a homicide. She was 45 at the time of her disappearance, and a divorced mother of two.

Police announced Asturizaga was a person of interest at a Thursday press conference, based on a recent forensic analysis of evidence that was gathered in Thresher's Sangamore Road apartment at the time she went missing.

In 2010, Hannah told the Montgomery County Police Department that Asturizaga had victimized her by becoming "involved in an inappropriate and illegal sexual relationship with her from approximately 1999 to 2001, when he was a teacher and she was a student at the school." police said.

Hannah was ten-years-old at the time of the abuse, while Asturizaga was 32.

Police charged Asturizaga with multiple counts of second-degree rape, second-degree sexual offense and child abuse. He was sentenced to well over 100 years for these crimes in 2012.

Detectives believe Thresher "had suspicions that her daughter was being victimized by Asturizaga and had notified the school, her ex-husband James Thresher, and Asturizaga of her concerns," police said.

"Soon after (Thresher) made her suspicions known, she disappeared," Hannah said at the press conference. "A few months later, when I expressed frustration at his lack of empathy towards my grief over the loss of my mother, FA said to me: 'I thought things would be easier for us now that she's gone.' At the time I didn't think anything of it. After nine or ten years of reflection I started to question if his words meant something more."

Detectives believe Thresher may have been murdered inside her apartment. They think her body was moved to an unknown location, as it has not been located. Detectives also think Thresher's car was moved from her apartment complex and abandoned by the suspect(s) on Broad Street in the Brookmont neighborhood, about a mile from her residence.

Montgomery County Police Cold Case detectives responded to the correctional facility last night and are coordinating with their investigators and officials, police said.

The disappearance of Alison Thresher continues to be an open and ongoing homicide investigation, so no additional details about the case will be released at this time.

Alison’s children, Hannah and Sam, spoke at the press conference yesterday. At this time, Alison’s children do not wish to make any further public statements.

Photos via MCPD