YORKTOWN, Va. (WAVY) — A man arrested and charged with his stepfather’s murder told arriving police, “I guess you’re here to arrest me.”
Alexander Costen is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his stepfather, John Kistler. The 87-year-old man died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck in his Chowan Turn home on June 15.
When police arrived on the scene, they noticed that the inside of the family home was in “disarray, as if a struggle had occurred.” Costen’s mother said she was in the bathroom when a “commotion” broke out between her son and husband. She couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but when she walked out of the bathroom she found Kistler motionless and bleeding on the floor, according to court documents.
Police found Costen with blood on his face and clothing walking outside the home near a wooded area. After he said he thought they were there to arrest him, police asked him why he believed that and he said, “Because I was inside with him,” court document state.
Costen is being held at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail without bond.
