THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 23, 1995 TAG: 9503230549
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
It first looked like a random act of violence that resulted in the death of a 19-year-old girl Tuesday night in a housing project.
But by Wednesday morning the murder investigation had taken a sharp turn, away from four armed men dressed in dark leather jackets and toward the girl's 22-year-old boyfriend.
It led police to arrest Nathaniel A. Richardson Jr., who has been charged with a firearms violation and murder in the slaying of his girlfriend, Telisha Johnson, according to G.A. Brown, spokesman for the Portsmouth Police Department.
Richardson, of the 800 block of Lincoln St., was being held without bond in the Portsmouth City Jail.
Johnson died Tuesday night at Portsmouth General Hospital after paramedics took her there from the 1500 block of Green St. in the Washington Park subdivision.
Police were called to the Green Street address at 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, where they found Johnson shot in the upper torso. They were told that Johnson had been approached by four armed men while standing on the street in front of her residence.
Police learned later that investigators had been misled.
``That information was misleading and was given to police to cover the fact of the actual circumstances surrounding this murder,'' Brown said.
Brown said Wednesday that Richardson and Johnson had a dispute that resulted in Richardson shooting his girlfriend with a .357-caliber handgun. The weapon was found in a Dumpster nearby, Brown said.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING ARREST by CNB