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Her skills at restoring and copying classic artwork took Azin Naimi from Beverly Hills, Calif., to Florence, Italy. Her love of studying the history of great artists inspired her to travel to London and Moscow. A love for family brought her back to North Bethesda.

And it was Raymond Williams of Kensington who left her dead in an alleyway along Farragut Street in Washington, D.C., Montgomery County police said. Williams beat and stabbed her to death with a pair of scissors in her North Bethesda art studio early July 18, police said.

Williams, 35, is charged with first-degree murder in what prosecutors call a "heinous and violent act" — one where he attempted to clean the scene of the crime and Naimi's body of evidence.

"This was a terrible and senseless crime and there was a desperate attempt to cover it up," Assistant State's Attorney Stephen Chaikin said during a hearing for Williams in District Court on July 21. "... His attempt to cover it was pretty thorough and included trying to clean the victim."

Montgomery County police spokesman Capt. Paul Starks said Williams is their only suspect in the case, which started with a missing person's report by Naimi's family at 3:30 a.m. July 19.

A love for art, a need to give

A student of the late Gregory Stapko — a McLean, Va., copyist associated with the National Gallery of Art — Naimi's life was a journey of exploration into the world of art history and a unfailing desire to give, said her mother, Mary Bazargan.

"She was special person, she was my special person," Bazargan said. "All she wanted was to learn about the Old Masters and to help others."

Naimi, 45, spend a great deal of her adult life in Europe, studying at Sotheby's Institute of Art in London and Italy's Istituto per Larte il Restauro, a world-renowned art restoration school. During that time, she worked for private art galleries to support her education and giving nature, she said.

Bazargan said during the past five years her daughter donated more than $20,000 to Serving in Mission — an international Christian-service nonprofit. Representatives of SIM said her donations were used for relief efforts in Ethiopia.

A last walk

On July 18, after sharing dinner with her mother, Naimi walked the three blocks from her Old Georgetown Road home to the studio where she worked, sitting among the warehouses that line the railroad tracks, just north of White Flint mall.

Police records, signed by county police Detective Dimitry Ruvin, state that when she approached the building, surveillance showed she was "alone and everything appeared fine." Williams was inside, according to the records, unaware she was coming.

What happened next, and why it happened, is not clear, police said.

Once in custody, Williams confessed to beating Naimi violently and repeatedly stabbing her in the chest and head, Starks said.

He said there is no apparent motive behind his actions.

"It appears her presence surprise[d] him," Chaikin said.

Chaikin, during a hearing July 21, said Williams actions have labeled him a "major public safety threat" and noted that, when found, Naimi's body was bruised, partially naked and discarded almost carelessly along the street in Washington, D.C.

The suspect

Prosecutors describe Williams' criminal history as "minor," pointing out that, although he has been arrested for crimes ranging from malicious destruction of property to possession of drug paraphernalia in both Montgomery and Prince George's counties during the past 15 years, he has not been convicted of a violent crime.

Most recently, Williams pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and failure to obey a lawful order in a 2007 incident where court records, signed by Montgomery County police, state he fled from officers.

He was released on supervised probation, which expired in 2008.

Chaikin said the case likely will focus on forensic evidence.

"The evidence will dictate this case," he said. "We have blood from the warehouse, blood in the car, and blood evidence [at the crime scene]. That is what we're focusing on."

Several women indicated by court documents as close to Williams declined to comment. Williams is being represented by a public defender. That office did not return calls for comment.

Living on

Friends and family say Naimi's work will live on beyond her death.

Debbi Tehrani, a friend of Azin Naimi, said her loved ones are in disbelief of her death.

"It is so inexplicable that someone so purely good could have this happen to them," she said. "She was a great person, only someone really evil could have done this."

Bazargan said her daughter moved into their home 18 months ago to help care for her ailing grandmother and finish her book on classic artists.

Bazargan said she intends to publish her daughter's work.

"She was always working on her book, all day she was studying and writing," she said. "It was her life; the Old Masters."