In the early hours of a Thursday morning in Portsmouth, Virginia, a domestic dispute escalated into a fatal encounter that ended the life of 70-year-old John Larry Nunamaker Sr. On June 8, 2017, emergency dispatchers received a call reporting a domestic argument and the sound of gunfire on Chippewa Trail. When officers arrived at the scene around 12:30 a.m., they discovered Nunamaker on the ground, having sustained a fatal gunshot wound.
He was pronounced dead before he could be transported to a hospital.
The investigation into the shooting quickly led to the arrest of 58-year-old Franklin W. Layne, who was charged with second-degree murder. The incident occurred at the home of Nunamaker's estranged wife, Jaye Nunamaker. Court documents revealed a history of alleged violence between the couple, with mutual assault accusations in the months leading up to the shooting. Jaye Nunamaker had obtained a protective order against her husband in March of that year, claiming he had threatened to kill her. In response to these threats, friends had installed four security cameras around her home just weeks before the fatal confrontation.
The events that transpired on the night of the shooting were captured by these surveillance cameras. According to testimony and video evidence presented in court, John Nunamaker had violated the protective order by showing up at his estranged wife's home. At the time, Franklin Layne was inside the residence with Jaye Nunamaker. The video footage reportedly shows Layne emerging from the house and pointing a gun at Nunamaker. Following a physical altercation between the two men, and as Jaye Nunamaker came outside, the situation escalated. The video allegedly shows Layne putting the gun to Nunamaker's head and firing, causing him to fall to the ground.
During Layne's preliminary hearing, a judge determined there was sufficient evidence for the case to proceed to trial. It was also revealed that this was not Layne's first brush with the law regarding violent crime; he had a prior murder conviction from 1988 for which he had served nearly 25 years in prison before being released on parole. Public records also indicated that John Nunamaker was a registered sex offender, having been convicted of forcible sodomy in 1992.
