CHESAPEAKE — A Chesapeake man was found guilty Friday of murdering, robbing and abducting a woman from New York state who was staying in the same apartment complex as him.
The jury deliberated for about three hours before convicting Raheem Cherry of all charges, including first-degree murder. Sentencing was set for July. Cherry, who was 19 when the crimes were committed, could get up to two life terms plus 15 years.
The slaying occurred around 5 a.m. on May 17, 2021, at the Taylor Bend apartment complex in Western Branch.
Laura Miles, 61, a resident of upstate New York who spent weeks at a time in Chesapeake as a safety supervisor at Craney Island, was attacked immediately after she stepped into her Ford F150 in the complex’s parking lot, according to prosecutors. She’d been talking on the phone with her husband, who told police he heard a scream and then a struggle. He also got texts from her phone moments later that he said were out of character for her.
Officers discovered Miles’ truck on the other side of the complex later that day. Soon after, they found her body in a ditch near the Taylor Bend YMCA. A medical examiner determined Miles had been stabbed 11 times.
A detective who saw Cherry walking back and forth in the area where the truck was found stopped him for questions, then let him go. Cherry became a suspect after fingerprints found on the truck and Miles’ phone were determined to have come from him.
Cherry denied any involvement, then later told detectives he was “somewhat” involved. He said that on that morning, he’d smoked marijuana in a car in the parking lot with a man he’d never seen before. He said the man told him he wanted to rob someone, and showed him a gun and a knife.
When Miles came out of her apartment and got into her truck, the man ran over and attacked her, Cherry told police. He said the man then forced him at gunpoint to help dump Miles’ body, dispose of her belongings and clean the truck.
“None of this makes any sense, ladies and gentleman,” Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney D.J. Hansen told jurors during closing arguments. “It doesn’t make sense because it never happened.”
Cherry testified in his own defense, telling jurors he initially lied to police because he didn’t trust them. He also said that he didn’t attempt to run away, or report what had happened, because he was afraid.
Defense attorney Amanda Newins pointed to doorbell video footage that showed Cherry in the area, and then a minute later another man wearing different clothes in the same area.
“We know there was someone else there,” Newins told jurors. “We know that because there is video footage showing there is someone else there.”
Newins also questioned prosecutors’ assertion that Cherry had sent the texts to Miles’ husband. The only prints found for him were from his pinky and middle fingers, not typically ones used to type. Cherry said his prints were there because he touched the phone while helping the other man clean the truck.
The defense lawyer also pointed to the fact that no blood was found on the clothes Cherry was seen wearing in the video, and that a partial DNA sample located on Miles’ arm was ruled to have come from two different men. There wasn’t enough evidence, however, to determine who the men were.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
