VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A man accused in three homicides spanning Virginia Beach and Norfolk has spoken publicly to the media.
On Thursday, hours after Cola Beale IV was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in Hampton, he gave multiple interviews with the media from the Virginia Beach Correctional Center.
In those interviews, Beale gave insight into the time leading up to the three homicides as well as his personal history.
He also said he left a message for his 3-year-old son on a tablet before he allegedly killed his girlfriend, a man who was a father figure to him, and his cousin. Beale urged his son to make good choices.
He said he has no remorse for the crimes he’s accused of, but doesn’t want his 3-year-old son to end up like him.
Watch pieces of the jailhouse interview and read the related transcript below.
**Editor’s note: Parts of this transcript contain profanity.
Cola Beale’s message to his children
WAVY TV 10: Why did you want to kill as many people as possible? Have you ever had violent thoughts before?
Cola Beale IV: No, I’m just to the point where I already knew after the first I had enough ammo to kill a lot of more people. I’m just thankful that the U.S. Marshals got me … because I was definitely about to get out there the next day and do something.
WAVY TV 10: Would you like to apologize?
Cola Beale IV: No. Because what’s done is done. I ain’t lying no more. They ain’t lying no more. So I’m going to keep it just like I sent it. I did everything individually for a different reason.
He went on to explain what happened the day he was arrested.
Cola Beale IV: “Had I just got into a shootout with the U.S. Marshals, I would’ve been dead. I’d be still on the run if they didn’t find me. I wouldn’t be sitting right here in front of you. I’m just sitting right here in front of you because the house next to me in the Airbnb had two little boys in it and a family and I knew they were in the house, so if I came out shooting there was a chance they could’ve got killed. I don’t want my kids to get killed. So I didn’t come out shooting. I let the shawty go (cousin’s girlfiend) and I just walked out. I didn’t even do it. I could’ve shot it out to the death. They (U.S. Marshals) don’t matter.”
Beale was asked what he was doing when the U.S. Marshals came to the house in Hampton to take him into custody.
Cola Beale IV: I was asleep. I just took a shower and I was asleep. I put on some music, I was laying down asleep and I heard this big truck come up like an army truck come up. Every time I looked out the window they kept saying ‘left right left right’ i knew it was them.
WAVY TV 10: Did you want to get caught?
Cola Beale IV: Hell no. That’s the whole point — not to get caught. Keep doing what you do. Keep staying on the run. Who goes on the run and wants to get caught?
Cola Beale’s message to his children
WAVY TV 10: Are you satisfied with that? are you at peace with that? that you became the same person your father was?
Cola Beale IV: No. No. Hell no, because now I have a son that I won’t be able to talk to anymore. Or if his mom is cool or however it goes… However their life goes behind my actions, I just hope that he can break it. That’s why I didn’t give him my last name. He’s 3. That’s why I didn’t give him my name so he ain’t got to worry about living with this name.”
WAVY TV 10: Cola, do you have anything that you’d like to say specifically to your son?
Cola Beale IV: I have a lot to say. A week before this happened, I left a video recording on his tablet at his grandma’s house. So that if something ever happened to me he could listen to it and it was just kind of like building him up. Talking to him as if I was gone already. Like, for some reason it felt like I was about to leave the world anyway. So I had already left him a farewell message way before I had thought of all this. And it was wild because now this happened. I didn’t see this happening but I recorded a video in his tablet so if he ever sees it, he knows what I meant for him. If I had to say something to him now, I’d say continue to be strong. Pay attention. Be the best you can be. I mean, be there to protect his mom. Take care of his grandma while she’s here. Listen to his mom and for whatever else he can do, stay active in life. Something that he can keep his mind focused on what he wants to do. And I love him and my daughter as well. She’s going to be 13.
Cola Beale discusses relationship with his stepmother
WAVY TV 10: Cola, you killed three people. In 2014, your dad killed your stepmom. Why do you think your dad killed your stepmom?
Cola Beale IV: I was locked away at the time he did it. She was writing me all the time. She wrote me a letter and at the end of the letter she told me she knew she was about to go. She said she felt it. She felt like she wasn’t going to be here no more. She felt like it was almost close to the end. That kind of hurt me because I was like ‘Damn, that’s the only one really writing me when I’m gone.’
When asked if he was close with his stepmother, Beale said ‘yes.’
Cola Beale IV: Yeah and for him to do that, that was like another crush, another pain. I didn’t know what he felt. But I just, I mean, I tried to stay in contact with him but when I came home, I just cut him off. And right before I started trying to get back in contact with him, that’s when this happened.
Cola Beale talks about setting girlfriend’s home on fire
Beale was asked to clarify if he killed his girlfriend’s dog or whether the dog died in the fire.
Cola Beale IV: The dog died in the fire. But I let the dog live because that’s what she told me to do. She said ‘Look, don’t hurt him…’ I mean I was going to set him on fire. She said ‘Don’t hurt him, he had nothing to do with this. This is all my fault. This is me.’ She said it was her fault because she let her mom in and mess with her head. I said ‘Look man, so thats how you feel?’ She was like ‘Look, whatever you’re going to do to him, do it to me.’ So thats when I shot her in the head.
He continued:
Cola Beale IV: I set that on fire, I set the car on fire, I even ran through fire trying to get out. I almost got locked into the fire.
He continued:
Cola Beale IV: She was already ready to go. She was ready to go. She was like nah, I’ll take that. So I left the dog alive but then I came back to the house and set it on fire and then I watched the dog burn alive.
