Ashley Turton died in a car fire …
Ashley Turton, the director of congressional affairs for Progress Energy, was found dead in a burned out car in her garage Monday morning. Her husband, Dan Turton, 43, White House deputy director of House legislative affairs, was at the residence when tragedy struck.
The couple, who purchased their home in 2003 for $826,000, are well known in Democratic circles. Homicide investigators were immediately call to the scene to investigate. Capt. Michael Farish, of the D.C. police homicide unit said: “We have no evidence of any obvious malfeasance in her death at this time.
Authorities said that the death “appears” to the result of a low-speed crash, an unknown medical condition, the fire, or some combination of the three. A BMW SUV was discovered at an odd angle partially inside the garage of the rowhouse where the couple lived on Capitol Hill.
A neighbor of the Turton’s called in the fire at 5:00 a.m. and then knocked on their door to alert the family about the garage blaze. Dan, who thought his 37-year-old wife was at work, shepherded their three young children, 4-year-old twin boys and a 21-month-old girl, away from the residence.
It wasn’t until after the garage fire was extinguished, behind the home, that Ashley Turton’s body was discovered in the car. Her husband assumed she was at work. She was up at 4:00 a.m. with plans to head to her downtown office because her company was set to merge with Duke Energy today in a $13.7 billion deal.
Prior to becoming a lobbyist, she served as chief of staff to Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut. She left in 2007 to begin working as a regulatory analyst for the North Carolina-based utility company.
Progress Energy CEO Bill Johnson released this statement: “Ashley was a valued employee whose insight and hard work had been critical on so many of our legislative and regulatory issues. She was also a dear friend to many of us and this news is very hard to take. Today is an eventful day for us as employees of Progress Energy. Ashley’s tragic death reminds us all to keep perspective in all things.”
Fire department spokesman Peter Piringer acknowledged: “There were some unusual circumstances — just the way the car was, low-speed, significant fire, things like that….For the most part, the fire was confined to the area of origin.”
Check out fire photos and a video report below: