Melanie Apostol is pleading for the public’s help finding the man accused of killing her sister.
Angelique Apostol, 38, was discovered dead inside the St. Albans, Queens home of her fiancé, Mark Washington, on June 24, according to police and family. She had been shot in the head, though the gunshot wound was not initially visible because her body had badly decomposed after roughly two weeks inside the residence, cops and sources said. Washington, 47, who has 11 prior arrests including an attempted murder charge and a state prison stint for reckless endangerment, remains at large nearly three months later.
Melanie, 37, identified her sister through tattoos bearing her children’s names. “[Cops] showed me tattoos on her body, which were my children’s names,” she said. The sisters were extraordinarily close — Angelique had even enrolled in home health aide classes specifically so she could help Melanie care for her two youngest children, ages 11 and 5, who are on the autism spectrum. “She didn’t have to be a home health aide, but she signed up for it so that she could help me with my two special needs children,” Melanie said. “She didn’t have any children on her own. She took care of everyone’s children.”
The last time anyone saw Angelique alive was June 10, the day she and Washington had planned to attend Game 4 of the Knicks’ championship run at Madison Square Garden. They never arrived. Instead, Melanie said, the couple attended a charity event that day, and neighbors’ Ring cameras captured them returning to Washington’s home together. Roughly 30 to 45 minutes later, footage showed Washington leaving alone with his belongings — without Angelique.
The cruelty of the killing has left the family shattered. “I know he discarded her and he shot her in the face, which was intentional because we couldn’t even say goodbye to her,” Melanie said. “We couldn’t have an open casket, and he left her there like roadkill. So I’m asking… if anybody can help or locate this person or their whereabouts, any type of information, please, I’m begging.”
Washington’s criminal history stretches back more than two decades. He was arrested for attempted murder following a February 19, 2002 shooting that wounded a 41-year-old man in Queens, according to police. The disposition of that case was not immediately clear. State Corrections records show he later served more than two years in prison on a first-degree reckless endangerment conviction, from September 2019 through February 2022.
Angelique divided her time among three places: her sister’s Staten Island home, Washington’s Queens residence, and upstate New York, where she worked at a domestic violence shelter. The job reflected a lifelong commitment to helping others. “She was passionate about helping people,” those who knew her said. Last winter, she handed out soup to homeless people at the Staten Island Ferry terminal. Melanie found bitter irony in her sister’s profession. “She worked in a domestic violence shelter — which is the ironic part about it — in upstate New York,” she said.
The couple’s social media presence had masked any trouble. They frequently posted together on TikTok, even sharing video of their engagement on the platform. “That was her fiancé, and that’s all I really knew about her relationship,” Melanie said. “We thought everything was, you know, fine because they posted so many TikToks together. They were always with each other,” She added: “She trusted him and she did love him, and she would have never suspected that he would have done anything like this. Because if she would, she would have left him.”
The summer has brought no relief to the grieving family. “We’ve been sitting patiently, trying to figure out what to do. Everyone is in a standstill. No one knows how to move forward,” Melanie said. The NYPD has released photos of Washington and asked anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS, with Spanish speakers directed to 1-888-57-PISTA. Tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers website or via X @NYPDTips.
