Police: Maryland man will be charged with killing woman, four children at Chester residence
CHESTER — A Maryland man has been arrested in connection with the shooting deaths Friday of a woman and her three children at their residence in a north Chester neighborhood.
Jonah L. Adams, 35, of the 11400 block of Saint Martha Court in Waldorf, Maryland, was picked up near his home Friday afternoon by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents near his home. Police said Adams was in a previous relationship with the woman and is the father of two of the children who died.
Killed in the early-morning attack Friday were JoAnna M. Cottle, 39; Kaelyn M. Parson, 13; and four-year-old twins Kinsey and Jayson Cottle. All four of them lived in the house in the 4200 block of Laurel Oak Road.
Adams, who still is in custody in Maryland, is facing four counts of first-degree murder, a police spokesperson said in an email.
Police say the victims were targeted.
Officers were sent to the neighborhood just north of state Route 288 off Hopkins Road after residents reported a disturbance. Officers discovered the bodies when they went inside the house to do a welfare check.
No one else was inside the house, Louth said.
Neighbors of the victims were visibly shaken by the news. They said overall, the place is very quiet, and they did not recall ever hearing of any trouble at the residence where the victims were found.
"I know nobody wants to wake up to Friday being like this," Nicole Rogers-Powell said as she stood in the front doorway of her home a few houses down from the crime scene. She said there are a lot of elementary- and middle-school aged children in the neighborhood, and they are always looking forward to being outside on the weekends.
Rogers-Powell said she did not hear any of the commotion, but was told by a neighbor who lives across the street from the crime scene about what happened. After she heard, Rogers-Powell said she went around the house "checking windows, making sure all the windows were locked."
Zshakira Squire was returning home from working the overnight shift at her job to find police and emergency vehicles blocking her path. It was then that she found out about the shooting, and the one word she kept repeating was "crazy."
"It's just sad, sad and it's scary," Squire said as she sat behind the wheel of her car. "The one thing I'm gonna make sure me and my daughter ... oh, this is crazy. This is a crazy day."
Latisha Jones, a friend of the family, wiped her eyes with a tissue as she recalled the moment she heard about the incident.
"I opened my phone. I was at work," Jones said. "My friend, now, she told me because it was across the street."
Jones said the house where the family lived was owned by the woman's parents.
Shortly after the suspect was caught, one of the victim's friends took to social media to mourn her.
"Fly baby girl fly," Johnny Cox wrote. "You're angles [sic] ... you're missed already .."
The investigation into the homicides is ongoing. Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Chesterfield Police at (804) 748-1251 or Crime Solvers at (804) 748-0660. That info can also be shared through the P3Tips website or mobile app.
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Chesterfield murder suspect caught in Maryland, police say
