After 10 months of putting their “blood, sweat, and tears” into the investigation of the grisly triple murder of a woman, her boyfriend, and her 14-year-old son, the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office said it’s finally cracked the case that “horrified” a tight-knit Virginia community.
Michael Coleman, 39, Rachel Ozuna, 34, and her teenage son, Kyrrus Ozuna, were found by the boy’s father on May 29, 2019, inside their Fredericksburg home. All three suffered fatal stab wounds to the neck in a premeditated attack, authorities said.
“There were two other children—a toddler and an infant—also found inside the home,” Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office Caption Elizabeth Scott told The Daily Beast on Thursday, stating the two small children belonged to Coleman and Ozuna. “They were found unharmed, but very dehydrated. It was horrifying, everyone was affected by this slaying.”
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On Thursday, after “non-stop work” and coordination with 11 other law-enforcement agencies, five Pennsylvania men were charged in the trio’s homicide, the sheriff’s office said, declining to provide details on the motive as the investigation is “still very active.” Authorities, however, did reveal that at least one of the men is related to Coleman’s ex-wife.
“I am disgusted by the lack of human decency within each of these 5 people,” Kaisha Ozuna, Rachel’s sister, wrote on Facebook Thursday after the arrests were announced. “These are the faces of the 5 assholes who ripped our family apart... who took lives that were NOT theirs to take and left two babies to die.”
The men—James Christopher Myers, 30; Durward Anthony Allen, 27; Jamal Kelvin Bailey, 30; Hugh Cameron Green, 30; and Montel Jaleek Wilson, 26—all face three counts each of first-degree murder. While they are currently in custody in various locations in Pennsylvania, the five are expected to be extradited to Virginia.
“The devastating crime that was uncovered on May 29, 2019, has torn several families apart and impacted the strong community that surrounds us,” Spotsylvania Sheriff Roger Harris said in a statement. “I’m very grateful for the tireless efforts our Detectives were faced with along with the collaborative multi-agency assistance to bring these suspects to justice. My continued prayers for peace and comfort to the Ozuna and Coleman families.”
The investigation began after Kyrrus’ father went to the family’s home on Arlene Acres Drive early in the morning after not being able to “make phone contact” with his son. After knocking on the door, the father peered into the window and saw three people laying on the floor.
Authorities arrived at approximately 9 a.m., finding the trio already “deceased in the home.” The two small children, a toddler and a 6-week-old, found inside the home were unharmed but dehydrated after being left unsupervised for at least 24 hours.
The Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia later deemed the incident a homicide, saying that all three died from “incised wounds to the neck.”
“Our families and community are completely devastated,” the family of Ozuna, who is originally from Utah, wrote on a GoFundMe page after the slaying. “No reason imaginable is reason enough for these 3 to meet their end the way they did.”
While declining to go into details about what evidence led to the arrest of five men who lived thousands of miles away from the crime scene, Scott said Thursday that at least one of the men had a “suspicious connection” with the trio.
“Montel Jaleek Wilson was the nephew of Michael Coleman’s ex-wife,” Scott said, stating that while the 26-year-old is not “blood related” he is the only one who knew Coleman and had at one point lived in Philadelphia.
Described as “the most vibrant thing in the room,” Ozuna had moved to Virginia from Utah with Coleman and her son a few years prior and worked as a dental assistant, authorities said.
Her sister, who said she had tried to contact her for days before the slaying, told KUTV at the time that her nephew, Kyrrus, was a “sweet kid” who had just finished the eighth grade. She said Coleman was a “great partner.”
Colman and Ozuna’s two children are now being “raised by Rachel’s family in Utah. They are safe and healthy,” Scott said.
