John Patrick Violette is expected to return to Johnston County today to face a judge and answer to a charge of killing and decapitating his 4-year-old daughter, Katlin.

Violette, 37, fled to Washington, D.C., Friday evening after police say he killed his only child. Police confiscated two kitchen knives in the home, one stained with what appeared to be blood, according to a search warrant made public Tuesday. Police also collected a blood-stained pair of children's pajamas.

Officials haven't explained how Katlin -- a well-mannered girl just learning to ride a bike -- died.

Katlin's mother, Amber Violette, came home from work Friday evening to find her daughter lying in the hallway of their Grovewood subdivision home. Several hours earlier, Amber Violette had had lunch with her daughter and husband in the family's home.

Katlin and John Violette had been having a "daddy-daughter day," Amber Violette told an emergency dispatcher.

Neighbors saw John Violette race to his McKinnon Drive home in his Buick station wagon just after lunch, ranting to himself as he rushed to the front door.

"He was ranting and raving, like somebody was talking to him in his head and he was talking back," said Diana Narron, a neighbor who lives across the street from the Violettes.

Violette was still stirred up when U.S. Marshals tracked him down in a Holiday Inn, walking distance from the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

"He was screaming Bible passages from Revelations," said Tex Lindsey, a deputy U.S. Marshal and commander of the Eastern District's violent-fugitive task force, which helped search for Violette.

Marshals had to knock in the door of his hotel to arrest him. Violette tried to flee twice as he was taken to jail, Lindsey said.

Violette landed in Washington late Friday night, after leaving his car at Raleigh-Durham International Airport and boarding a U.S. Airways plane, Clayton Police Chief Glen Allen has said. His flight likely made a connection in Charlotte.

Those who loved Katlin will say goodbye to her Thursday in a morning service at Colonial Baptist Church in Cary. Katlin was involved in programs there and often hummed songs she learned in Sunday school class throughout the week, said her day-care teacher, Debbie Clark.

"Katlin was learning, at a young age, what it meant to put Jesus first," Amber Violette said earlier this week. Katlin often asked her mother whether people she knew had "Jesus in their heart," fretting over whether she would see them in heaven.