Saturday, December 11, 2010

Chesapeake, VA: Murder-suicide suspected in Chesapeake deaths

By Jennifer Jiggetts
The Virginian-Pilot
© December 10, 2010
CHESAPEAKE

Police discovered the bodies of a woman and man inside a home about 3:30 p.m. Friday when they responded to the 1200 block of Copper Stone Court, according to a news release.

They are investigating the deaths as a possible murder/suicide.

The names of the two will be released after family members are notified, police said.

Police say the man and woman knew each other. They will release more details about their exact relationship when they become available.

By evening, yellow tape marked off the property at 1207 Copper Stone Court, a brick ranch home in the Hunningdon Lakes neighborhood off Kempsville Road. One electric candle burned in a front window.

Neighbors gathered on porches in the cold.

“We’re all shocked,” said Joan Ligon, who lives across the street.

She said the residents of the house behind the tape had lived there at least 10 years, and they knew each other through such things as Christmas cookie exchanges.

Dave Cartwright lives next door. He said the pair were friendly and lived in the house for several years.

Cartwright said about two weeks ago, he heard the two residents saying they were going to put their house up for sale.

When neighbors came home and saw police officers and a woman at the door, they thought it was a real estate agent who had set off the alarm, Cartwright said.

“But within 15 minutes, the street was lined up with cop cars,” he said.

Cartwright said the two were not married.

Pilot reporters Marjon Rostami and Matthew Bowers contributed to this report.


(Jill Beilsmith, 54, and William Johnson, 57, had recently ended a long-term, live-in relationship, according to a police news release.)
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