Automated number-plate recognition cameras and a tip from a dog walker helped Alexandria police identify a man accused of killing Charles Talley in an apartment car park, investigators have said.
Corey Stubblefield, 38, was indicted by a Northern Virginia multijurisdictional grand jury on 30 September on charges of murder and using a firearm in the commission of murder.
Police Chief Tarrick McGuire said officers began using licence plate reader cameras immediately after the shooting on 15 July. The technology helped detectives locate a vehicle, develop leads and connect Stubblefield to the death, he said.
Information supplied by a witness involved in the department’s Dog Walker Watch scheme also proved significant to the investigation.
Talley was found with a gunshot wound to the chest in a car park in the 5300 block of Holmes Run Parkway at about 11.15pm. Officers responding to reports of gunfire took him to Inova Alexandria Hospital, where he later died.
Investigators believe Stubblefield and Talley knew one another and had argued before the shooting. Police have not established a motive.
A weapon linked to Stubblefield was recovered, according to police. The accused allegedly fled to North Carolina after the shooting and was arrested in Sampson County in August on an unrelated firearms charge.
Alexandria officers travelled to North Carolina on Thursday, 1 October, to take Stubblefield into custody and return him to Virginia.
The case is due to be heard in Alexandria Circuit Court. Stubblefield faces a possible life sentence if convicted of murder, as well as a maximum three-year term for the firearms charge.
