NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A Norfolk man was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.
Michael Nse Eyo Ebong will spend the rest of his life in prison for object sexual penetration and rape. The 43-year-old man also received two, 10-year prison sentences on top of the life sentences for involuntary manslaughter.
Deputies had to restrain Ebong when he made a statement before sentencing. Ebong was not in the courtroom when the sentence was officially handed down.
Ebong’s alleged crimes span eight months. He’s accused of killing 36-year-old Sheena West in November 2020 and 30-year-old Kelsey Paton in July 2021. Both women died of drug overdoses in Ebong’s Ocean View apartment on Hillside Avenue.
On Nov. 15, 2020, police say Ebong reported a woman unresponsive inside his Hillside Avenue Apartment. Upon arrival, medics pronounced Sheena West dead. An autopsy ruled her cause of death as an accidental overdose from a combination of alcohol, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl.
On July 11, 2021, Ebong again called Norfolk Police to report an unresponsive woman in his apartment. When medics arrived, they found Kelsey Paton dead. Paton’s cause of death was also ruled as an overdose from a combination of alcohol, heroin, fentanyl and antidepressants.
Shortly after Paton’s death, Ebong’s name and pictures began circulating on social media among people who had seen him at bars. A third woman recognized Ebong as the man that she believed raped her and immediately contacted police. Norfolk police arrested Ebong for rape on July 16, 2021.
Forensic testing revealed the presence of Ebong’s DNA in West’s and Paton’s bodies. After a preliminary hearing for sexual assault charges in Norfolk General District Court on Nov. 16, 2021, the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office secured grand jury indictments against Ebong for two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of West and Paton.
In September of 2022, a Norfolk jury convicted Ebong of two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of Paton and West. The jury also convicted him of the rape and object sexual penetration of the surviving victim.
“Justice was served today. Mr Ebong’s case, the crimes he committed against the victims are the worst of the worst sorts of crimes,” said Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi “The evidence that we heard in the court trial, the evidence the judge considered in sentencing demonstrated that Mr. Ebong did terrible things to these victims, and that he was an unacceptable risk to hurt or possibly kill again were he released.”
