Ex-boyfriend arrested for killing Virginia mother, 3 children: police

CHESTER, Va. - Police say they have captured a suspect in the fatal shootings Friday of a mother and three children at a home in Virginia.

The bodies were discovered in the morning by police after they responded to a report of a disturbance at a home in Chester, south of Richmond.

Chesterfield County police identified the victims as JoAnna Cottle, 39, and her three children, Kaelyn Parson, 13; Kinsey Cottle, 4; and Jayson Cottle, 4.

They later apprehended a suspect — Cottle’s former boyfriend, Jonah Adams, 35 — near his home in Waldorf, Maryland. In a news release, police said Adams is the father of Kinsey and Jayson Cottle.

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Detectives have warrants for Adams on four counts of first-degree murder. Adams was apprehended by agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and was in custody in Maryland.

It was not immediately clear if Adams had retained an attorney to represent him. The case had not been entered into Maryland’s electronic court records system as of late Friday afternoon.