Eric Warren Witzig

Long Time Local Resident, Homicide Detective, Dies Eric Warren Witzig, born on July 17, 1946, at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the late Dr. Warren F. Witzig and Bernadette d’ Lourdes Sullivan Witzig, died during the morning of February 18, 2020. He was 73 years old and battled cancer for three years. Mr. Witzig was a resident of Northern Virginia since 1960. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the American University in Washington, D.C., and his master’s degree in criminal justice from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. For twenty years, Mr. Witzig was a member of Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department. He was a homicide detective and Agent of the Chief Medical Examiner for the last decade of his police career. He was also a Police Fellow with the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime and was trained as a criminal personality profiler. Some of his major cases included the airliner crash of Air Florida’s Flight 90 into the frozen Potomac River and work on the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. Mr. Witzig joined the FBI’s Training Division where he worked in the Investigative Support Unit as a Crime Analyst and Major Case Specialist. He was an integral part of the Bureau’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program. He retired from the Bureau as a Unit Chief and Supervisory Intelligence Analyst assigned to a special criminal investigation project. At the time of his death, Mr. Witzig was the Vice Chairman and Director of the Murder Accountability Project—www.murderdata.org—seeking resources for state and local police to clear homicides. Mr. Witzig was a major donor to the University of Tennessee. In 2014, he and his wife created and funded the “All Creatures Great and Small” endowed clinical professorship shared by the College of Social Work and the College of Veterinary Science. He was predeceased in 2015 by his wife of 46 years, Barbara Christine Sowers Witzig, of Annandale, VA. Her sister, Dr. Karen M. Sowers of Knoxville, Tennessee, was the Dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Tennessee (UT). Mr. Witzig is survived by his mother, Bernadette d’ Lourdes Sullivan Witzig, of State College, PA, and sisters Leah W. Witzig of State College, PA, and Dr. Lisa W. Witzig (Ed Mornston), of Alexandria, VA; and his brother, Marc W. Witzig, Esquire (Debbra Lewis), of Camp Hill, PA. Also surviving him are six nieces and nephews and seventeen grand nieces and nephews. Contributions in Mr. Witzig’s memory may be made to the All Creatures Great and Small Endowed Clinical Professorship at UT. Checks may be sent to the University of Tennessee Foundation and sent to the Development Office, UT College of Social Work, 117 Henson Hall, Knoxville, Tennessee, 37996.