U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro's former chief of staff, Ashley Turton, has died in a car fire in Washington, D.C.
After the fire in the BMW at her family's garage was extinguished, firefighters on the scene found Turton's body.
An energy lobbyist who was well known in Washington political circles, she had previously worked as an aide to U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt, a Democrat who ran for president in 2004 against former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, U.S. Senators John Kerry and Joseph I. Lieberman, and former U.S. John Edwards.
Turton, whose husband is a well-known liaison in President Barack Obama's White House, was the mother of three young children under the age of 5.
The incident happened before 5 a.m., and Turton had apparently been planning to drive to the airport for a morning flight.