Jocelyn Miera Frazier, a 26-year-old female, found her life tragically cut short on a spring afternoon in Newport News, Virginia. On April 4, 2019, what began as a dispute in a public parking lot escalated into a fatal act of violence that silenced a woman known for her compassionate nature and dedication to her young son. The incident unfolded around 5 p.m.
in the bustling area of a shopping center on Jefferson Avenue, where witnesses reported hearing a fight between a man and a woman just before the sound of gunfire pierced the air. When police arrived at the scene outside a Boost Mobile store, they found Jocelyn suffering from a gunshot wound. Despite immediate medical attention, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into her death was swift, thanks to the cooperation of citizens and witnesses who came forward to help law enforcement. Investigators quickly identified her ex-boyfriend, Maya Pasquinel Frye, who was 41 years old at the time, as the suspect. The relationship between Frazier and Frye had been described as tumultuous, and they shared a child together. Less than six hours after the shooting, Frye was located and apprehended at a Walmart in the nearby city of Suffolk. The Newport News Police Department promptly charged him with second-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
The legal proceedings that followed painted a grim picture of the final moments of Jocelyn's life. During a preliminary hearing in November 2019, a witness testified to seeing Frye and Frazier arguing in the parking lot. The witness described seeing Frye holding a gun and, after the weapon appeared to jam, watching him fix it and then shoot Frazier. The charge against Frye was later upgraded to first-degree murder. In a resolution to the case in January 2022, Maya Frye pleaded guilty to the murder of Jocelyn Frazier. He was sentenced to 53 years in prison, with 23 of those years suspended. He is expected to serve 30 years of active time behind bars, followed by five years of supervised probation.
