(ROCKVILLE, Md.) — A woman arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing an acquaintance during an argument in a Maryland home has been identified by news reports as a daughter of a former U.S. ambassador.
Sophia Negroponte, 27, has been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Yousuf Rasmussen, 24, of Bethesda, at a residence in Rockville late Thursday, according to Montgomery County police.
Negroponte is the daughter of John Negroponte and one of five children that he and his wife adopted in Honduras when he served as a diplomat there in the 1980s, according to the Washington Post.
Diana Negroponte, Sophia’s mother, told the Post that their daughter has their “total support.”
“We love her deeply,” she said.
Police department spokesman Rick Goodale said Sophia Negroponte is due in court on Tuesday for a bond review hearing.
Police arrested her at the scene of the stabbing. Rasmussen’s body was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy, police said.
Detectives determined Rasmussen was stabbed during a “disagreement” with Negroponte inside the home, police said.
In 2005, President George W. Bush appointed John Negroponte as the nation’s first intelligence director. He later served as deputy secretary of state. He also has been ambassador to Mexico, the Philippines, the United Nations and Iraq.
