The body found encased in concrete inside a refrigerator at a Northeast D.C. apartment building has been identified as a 44-year-old woman and housing advocate.

Chandra Brown was remembered as a talented writer and poet.

“That’s my baby. My baby’s gone,” said Sheila Brown, the mother of Chandra Brown.

She was overwhelmed by emotion as she spoke about her daughter.

“She was the kid that made me the mother that I am,” she said.

Sheila Brown described her daughter as a spark of light who, as a young child, showed a talent for writing and poetry, which became a lifelong passion.

“There’s books of her work that is all around the United States that we don’t have access to that brilliant writing,” she said.

Chandra Brown graduated from Dunbar High School in the District, trained as a nurse assistant and had three children. But things began to get difficult for her, and within a few years, her children went to live with family in North Carolina, and Chandra began living unhoused in the District.

“Part of where she ended up where she was was she always wanted to help the homeless people,” Sheila Brown said. “She felt there was something that drew her to them. I’m not sure what turned in her life.”

She believes it was her daughter’s compassion that led to a moment in 2021 captured by TV cameras and memorialized in a tweet at the dedication of a new park in Franklin Square downtown, where there had formerly been a homeless encampment.

Chandra Brown stood up and gave the middle finger to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. In an interview that day with the publication Street Sense, she expressed frustration with the mayor’s administration.

Chandra Brown’s path to 4300 Brook St. NE where her body was found Oct. 18 is not clear. Neighbors told News4 the refrigerator that held her remains, which were encased in concrete, came from a third floor apartment in the mostly empty building. Workers found the refrigerator in a dumpster being used to hold construction debris.

Sheila Brown, who lives in North Carolina, says she and her daughter spoke by phone regularly until May of 2023, then nothing.

The exact cause of Brown’s death has yet to be determined by the D.C. Medical Examiner.

There’s “substantial evidence” that embattled DC Council member Trayon White accepted bribes in exchange for influencing government officials to renew city contracts, according to a new report into White’s dealings released Wednesday.

White was arrested in August and is scheduled to stand trial on a federal bribery charge in 2026. Then, council members requested an independent probe to determine whether White violated any council rules.

In a 48-page report, put together by law firm Latham & Watkins, investigators say that White accepted $35,000 in cash from someone who operated several businesses holding or seeking contracts with D.C., or received subgrants or subcontracts from businesses that contracted with the city.

White accepted cash payments for agreeing to meet with and influence government officials, the report said, adding that he reviewed a ledger outlining the profits he expected to make, including a 3% cut for the grant renewals that he helped secure.

The report also says White met with government and agency employees to discuss contract renewals and contracts that an unnamed person had interest in.

Now, the council’s Ad Hoc Committee is scheduled to meet Monday morning to deliberate and consider recommending sanctions based on the report’s findings.

Through a spokeswoman, White declined to comment on the firm’s report.

White didn’t participate in interviews during the firm’s investigation, and didn’t provide certain documents that investigators requested.

“The report concludes that there is substantial evidence that Councilmember Trayon White engaged in conduct that violated several provisions of the D.C. Code of Conduct, including multiple rules within the D.C. Council’s Code of Official Conduct, with respect to the bribery allegations,” Ad Hoc committee chair Kenyan McDuffie said.

Council investigators also found substantial evidence that White engaged in behavior that has to be disclosed on yearly financial disclosure statements.

Council members have to consider whether there’s substantial evidence before considering actions. The substantial evidence standard, the report said, is different than the standard of proof used in White’s criminal case.

Meanwhile, while White has a connection to a property in Navy Yard, there’s not “substantial evidence” that he violated the council’s residency requirement, the report found.

Despite allegations White had been living there, investigators found White’s ownership of a Southeast property is “well-documented through property records and staff interviews.”

“The report also concludes that, while the investigation identified substantial evidence connecting Councilmember Trayon White to the 10K Hill South apartments, located in Ward 6, there is not substantial evidence to indicate that Councilmember White violated the residency requirements for councilmembers, as outlined in the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973,” McDuffie’s statement said.

This fall, White won reelection against a Republican challenger, Nate Derenge. His win followed a not guilty plea in September. He’s accused of being caught on video taking cash from a business owner.

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The local government and the incoming Republican trifecta at the federal level have a common interest in getting federal workers back into offices. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant number of federal workers have not fully returned to in-office work, which D.C. officials said has hurt the local economy.

“We strongly support return to office efforts for federal workers. Their presence is vital for D.C.’s economy and provides essential support for small businesses that have been hit hard by remote work policies. Undoubtedly, this will be a benefit to both the vibrancy of our nation’s capital and the American people as a whole,” Bowser said in her prepared testimony to the committee.

When asked by Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) if the city is prepared for a return to work, Bowser said it is, noting that public transportation would likely be the most affected by the change.

“Yes, we are ready, and in fact, we have had that conversation with Metro. I think the biggest impact would be on our public transportation system. And unlike some places, Metro has leaned into frequency, leaned into more and optimized bus routes so that we are prepared to carry our workers, visitors, and residents,” Bowser said Tuesday.

The D.C. Metro has gradually improved frequency and service for its trains and buses since the end of the pandemic, with the transit agency getting permission from its safety watchdog to begin to use its automated train system at faster speeds for the first time since 2009 on Tuesday. The use of the automated train system is expected to increase efficiency and service, along with cost savings for the transit agency.

D.C. local government officials are required to work in the office four days a week, while some Republican politicians have pushed for federal workers to return full-time as several federal buildings are left largely vacant. The city has expressed an interest in converting unused buildings into mixed-use developments but has also pushed for workers to return to help with the local economy.

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Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), a leading Senate supporter of the incoming Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, released a report last week about federal employees’ use of remote working as the pandemic creeps further into the past.

“Bureaucrats have been found in a bubble bath, on the golf course, running their own business, and even getting busted doing crime while on taxpayers’ time,” the report said, while also accusing many federal bureaucrats of “phoning it in.”