In the summer of 2016, a grim discovery was made in a car parked at the Carriage House Apartments in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Nineteen-year-old Gregory Alan Delong, a male, was found deceased in the driver's seat on the evening of June 16th. A passerby noticed blood coming from his nose and ears and alerted the authorities. What began as a report of a possible cardiac arrest quickly turned into a homicide investigation.
The investigation into the violent death of the Virginia Beach teen
led to the arrests of two individuals. Harold Vincent Cole Jr., a 30-year-old man, and a 17-year-old male were taken into custody. The juvenile was later identified as Malik Brown. Investigators determined that Delong's death occurred during a drug deal that had gone wrong. Cole and Brown had arranged to meet with Delong for a drug transaction with the intent to rob him.
During the encounter, Harold Vincent Cole Jr. struck Delong in the head with a firearm. As Delong pleaded for him to stop, Cole fatally shot him once in the head. The subsequent legal proceedings brought some measure of justice for Delong's family. In January 2018, a jury found Harold Vincent Cole Jr. guilty of first-degree murder, robbery, use of a firearm, and conspiracy. He was sentenced to 29 years in prison. Malik Brown, who was a juvenile at the time of the murder, pleaded guilty to his charges and was sentenced to 18 years in prison, the maximum allowed under his plea agreement.
