In the early morning hours of January 17, 2013, the life of 35-year-old Tasheka Lashon Leavell was tragically cut short in her Dumfries, Virginia, home. A knock at her door on Washington Street led to a fatal encounter, shattering the quiet of the neighborhood and leaving a community in mourning. Leavell, a female, sustained multiple gunshot wounds to her upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Remembered by friends and neighbors as a quiet and friendly person, she had been a familiar face at local restaurants where she worked.
The investigation into her violent death quickly led authorities to identify three brothers as the primary suspects: Reginald Keith Tolliver, then 38, Christopher Jonathan Tolliver, 27, and Douglas Jason Tolliver, 29. The motive for the shooting was believed to be connected to prior altercations between Leavell and the Tolliver brothers. All three men were subsequently charged with first-degree murder. The manhunt for the suspects unfolded over a matter of days.
Reginald Tolliver was the first to be apprehended, taken into custody in Dumfries just four days after the shooting. His brothers, Christopher and Douglas, managed to flee the state, prompting a wider search. Their time as fugitives was brief, however, as they were located and arrested in North Palm Beach, Florida, on January 23, 2013, by the U.S. Marshals' Florida Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. Following their capture, they were held in custody awaiting extradition back to Prince William County to face the charges against them.
