Background: 600 block of Antrim Drive, Newport News, Virginia (Google Maps). Inset left: David Anderson (Newport News Police Department). Inset right: Imani Parrish (C.C. Carter Funeral Home).
An arrest has been made in the death of a Virginia mother who was reportedly found wrapped in a bloody comforter in the closet of her home.
David Anderson, 30, has been charged with first-degree murder for the killing of 28-year-old Imani Parrish, the Newport News Police Department announced. He was arrested on Monday.
On the night of April 30 at about 9 p.m., officers responded to the 600 block of Antrim Drive; they were sent there because Parrish was not responding to her 10-year-old son’s calls and texts, and Parrish’s mother asked her partner to investigate because she found her unresponsiveness unusual, the Daily Press reported.
When the partner arrived, he reportedly found her dead.
Detectives at the scene found Parrish’s body “shoved” in a bedroom closet and wrapped in a comforter that was soaked in blood, according to court documents reviewed by local outlet WAVY, which also reported that there was a trail of blood from the bathroom to the closet.
The local medical examiner’s office reportedly identified the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head, and Parrish’s body and clothes contained pieces of glass.
Parrish was not just a mother to a 10-year-old boy but also a “beloved” daughter, sister, granddaughter, aunt, and friend, an obituary for her details. She was a painter, and “her smile, laughter and energy lit up every gathering.”
“Imani will be remembered for her natural beauty, infectious smile, kindness, strength and the love she gave so freely,” the obituary continued.
According to WAVY, her family believed the person who killed her was someone close to her. It is unclear what kind of relationship she may have had with Anderson, but police said he was identified as a suspect “over the course of the investigation.”
“She really cared about that person,” Nichole Parrish, her mother, told WAVY in mid-May, though it is unclear whether she was referring to someone specific. “She really cared, but justice, I hope will be served. Turn yourself in, please.”
