In the late hours of a March night in Norfolk, Virginia, a tragedy unfolded that would claim the lives of a mother and her daughter. Alicia Ann Hereford, a 52-year-old woman, and her 23-year-old daughter, Morgan Bazemore, were fatally shot on March 12, 2021. The two women were together in the parking lot of the Hunter's Square Apartments on Goff Street when the incident occurred. Emergency services responded to a call shortly after midnight and found both women with gunshot wounds.
They were pronounced dead at the scene. Autopsy reports later revealed that Hereford had been shot three times, and Bazemore suffered two gunshot wounds, one of which was to her head.
The investigation into the double homicide quickly focused on Kenyatta Ferrell Jones, who was 29 years old at the time. Jones had been in a tumultuous on-and-off relationship with Morgan Bazemore for years. A week after the shooting, he was located and arrested by law enforcement. He was initially charged with two counts of second-degree murder and firearm offenses in connection with the deaths of Alicia and Morgan. Witnesses reported seeing Jones arguing with both women just before the gunshots rang out. One witness even captured the events on a dash camera, which was provided to the Norfolk Police. Another witness saw Jones flee the scene in his vehicle after the shooting.
As the case proceeded through the legal system, it took an unexpected turn. The case was set for trial in March 2023, but prosecutors faced a significant challenge when key eyewitnesses refused to testify. This refusal meant that crucial evidence, including the dash-camera footage, would not be admissible in court. Faced with the possibility of the case being dismissed for lack of evidence, the prosecution entered into a plea agreement with Jones's defense. It was also anticipated that Jones would claim self-defense, alleging he knew one of the victims carried a gun. A firearm was indeed recovered from the handbag of one of the victims at the scene.
On March 3, 2023, Kenyatta Ferrell Jones pleaded guilty to two lesser counts of voluntary manslaughter. Subsequently, on July 14, 2023, a Norfolk Circuit Court judge sentenced him to eight active years in prison. The sentence also included 12 years suspended, conditioned on Jones having no contact with the Bazemore family, completing eight years of good behavior, and an indeterminate period of supervised probation. The outcome of the case and the relatively short prison sentence left the family of Alicia Hereford and Morgan Bazemore feeling hurt and disappointed, believing that justice had not been fully served for their loved ones.
