HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — The two men who were found dead inside an unknown business in the Highland Springs area of Henrico County last week have been identified.
Many questions surrounding this double homicide, as well as the fire that tore through the building a few days later, still remain unanswered.
According to the Henrico County Police Division, its officers found 31-year-old Jermarlo Tisdale of Richmond and 36-year-old Rufus Witcher of Henrico shot dead in the 900 block of East Nine Mile Road near the corner of North Quince Avenue around 5:02 a.m. on Friday, March 29.
Dozens of community members, like Famous Brown, had an emotional start to the Easter weekend as they witnessed the aftermath of what police are investigating as a double homicide.
“My first thought was, ‘It should never happen in this neighborhood,’” Brown said. “This is a good neighborhood. People get along here in this neighborhood.”
A fire tore through the same building on Monday. According to the Henrico County Division of Fire, a call reported the fire at 1:16 a.m. on Monday, April 1. Crews arrived within five minutes and had the fire extinguished within the next 20.
According to fire officials, the blaze appears to have started in the back of the building. No injuries were reported in connection to the fire and it remains under investigation.
Something that remains unclear is what kind of business this is. Even though there was a T’s Towing company banner on the outside, the owners of T’s Towing said this wasn’t their building — their business is just directly behind it.
“We do not own this building,” said the owners of T’s Towing. “We have no relation to this building.” They added that the banner was simply used for advertising.
Investigators are still trying to determine the events that led up to the double homicide and they’re still in the early stages of working with the fire. As of now, the cause of the fire is still unknown and any connection it may or may not have to the double homicide is not confirmed.
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