VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Tashawnda Drayton, the woman accused of killing a 10-year-old boy in Franklin, was scheduled to appear before a judge in Virginia Beach Circuit Court on July 2 on charges stemming from a pair of incidents in late 2017. Drayton is facing charges of contempt and violating probation in that case.
In June of 2018 she pleaded guilty to attempted malicious wounding, grand larceny, destruction of property (>$1,000), conspiracy to commit larceny and larceny with intent to distribute. She was sentenced to 11 years, with all but six months suspended — contingent on 10 years of good behavior.
Now, she could be facing jail time in Virginia Beach even before the Franklin murder case goes to trial.
2017 Incidents
On Dec. 15, a Virginia Beach man discovered that his tools had been stolen. Police were able to pin Drayton to that crime through the email address she was using to resell them online.
A week later, on Dec. 23, Drayton was arrested outside of the Macy’s at Lynnhaven Mall. She had entered the store with her mother and two other people. According to court documents, her mother placed $900 in store products on her arm, covered them with her jacket and attempted to leave the store — when she was stopped by security.
Drayton then got into a red SUV and drove it towards the security guards as well as her own mother.
“They had to jump out of the way and pull the defendant’s mother out of the way to avoid being run over by the defendant,” a stipulation of facts signed by Drayton reads. “The defendant ended up crashing the red SUV into the planter boxes just behind where the defendant’s mother was being taken into custody outside of the Macy’s.”
“Damage to the brick planter was $3,100,” it continues. “The defendant drove off, and she appeared to head toward them again. However she changed paths and quickly sped off across the parking lot.”
How to find a fugitive
Marshals took Tashawnda Drayton into custody on June 18, 2024 in connection with the deadly August 9, 2023 shooting in Franklin. She was found hiding out in an apartment in Boykins, about 17 miles from Franklin, where the shooting took place ten months earlier.
According to a search warrant affidavit, investigators learned that Drayton had been receiving “material assistance” while on the run following the shooting.
In an interview, U.S. Marshals Senior Inspector Robert Bowers told 10 On Your Side that investigators suspected from the beginning that she was being aided by her mother, sister, and/or best friend. It was through surveilling them that they eventually caught a break.
“On June 18, 2024, USMS members conducted surveillance at 32392 Brookside Drive in Boykins, Virginia,” the affidavit reads. “An Apple iPad that USMS developed reason to believe was being utilized by Drayton had connected to the WiFi network at 32392 Brookside Drive Apartment 305.”
That same day, Marshals pulled over Vianetta Brooks after observing her leave an apartment at that address. Investigators say Brooks was standing next to Drayton when the shooting occurred in August.
According to the document, Brooks gave police consent to search her home.
Marshals received a tip purporting that Brooks had been seen entering her apartment unit as well as the one directly next to it. Brooks told police she didn’t know anything about the second apartment.
Later that day, Drayton exited the second unit and was taken into custody.
Bowers told WAVY News the apartment complex had been extremely difficult to surveil because the community surrounding it was small and rural.
“[It] consists of four buildings that surround one common parking lot; all of the spaces in there, the parking spaces are assigned,” he said. “There’s only very few visitor parking spaces by the leasing office, so as soon as you are in that area and you’re not from there, the people who are from there know it right away.”
A backstory
According to a sworn statement, a witness told police the shooting stemmed from an ongoing incident that had escalated the night before. Drayton apparently confronted Maurice Underdown, the man who suffered non life-threatening gunshot wounds in the incident on Artis St.
Drayton and Underdown have known each other since at least late 2022. They appear together as suspects in a criminal complaint describing the assault of a 73-year-old man in Franklin on Dec. 19 of that year. Underdown’s charges related to that incident have been set aside.
The pair also appear in a complaint from Sept. 12, 2022 related to an altercation with a Franklin woman and her mother. Drayton was initially charged with assault & battery, destruction of property and violating a protective order, though those charges were later dismissed.
“Myself Tashawnda Drayton, Maurice Underdown, and Kelly was walking down S. High St,” an account of the incident, apparently authored by Drayton, begins.
Drayton is scheduled to appear in Franklin Circuit Court on August 26 and Virginia Beach Circuit Court on July 16.
WAVY News 10 will continue to follow any developments in the cases against Drayton.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.