In the early morning hours of March 5, 2023, a shooting incident on Dale Drive in Portsmouth, Virginia, set in motion a tragic chain of events. When police officers arrived at the scene around 7:43 a.m., they discovered two victims. One man, later identified as 22-year-old Carlos Castro-Murillo, was found with life-threatening injuries. He was rushed to a local hospital but succumbed to his injuries the following day, on March 6, 2023. The other victim, 28-year-old Carlos Cordova, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into the double homicide led authorities to identify two suspects. On May 9, 2023, the Portsmouth Police Department arrested 40-year-old Brian A. Johnson in connection with the deaths of Castro-Murillo and Cordova. Johnson faced a litany of charges, including two counts of aggravated murder, three counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, two counts of conspiracy to commit an aggravated murder, and robbery resulting in death. He was subsequently held at the Portsmouth City Jail without bond.
The second suspect, 27-year-old Akea M. Faison, remained at large for a significant period. Investigators publicly identified her as a person of interest and sought information on her whereabouts. Over a year after the incident, on November 7, 2024, Faison was apprehended. She was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, conspiracy to commit robbery resulting in death, robbery resulting in death, and three counts of use of a firearm while committing a felony. The arrests of both Johnson and Faison marked significant developments in the case.
