FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — A 33-year-old woman is dead after a child's cry for help inside a townhome Sunday, according to Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office.
Police said a woman called 9-1-1 operators just before noon saying that a child of a family friend told her that their mother was fighting with her boyfriend. The woman who called operators told them that there were two children, ages 4 and 8 years old inside of the home.
When officers arrived at the townhome located in the 11000 block of Taney Drive, they found a woman, identified as 33-year-old Jordan Diggins, dead with upper body trauma.
Officers searched the home and realized no one else was there.
Detectives canvassed the neighborhood searching for the children and suspect, identified as 28-year-old Chris Lee-Thompson Stevens, and caught up to them in the woods behind a nearby elementary school on Courthouse Road, police said. When detectives cornered Stevens, he ran off with the kids in the tree line.
The children were later found abandoned in the Crown Grant subdivision, police said.
Police brought in additional resources to search for Stevens before a deputy saw him leaving the woods and getting into a car near the 9700 block of Leavells Road.
Stevens was taken into custody without incident during a traffic stop. He was charged with first-degree murder, two counts of abduction and violation of a protective order.
He is currently incarcerated at Rappahannock Regional Jail under no bond, police said.
A friend tells WUSA9 that Diggins had been struggling to get help after Stevens became violent seven months ago.
"Everybody is really upset," said Taylor Green, who lives next door to Diggins, and her son played in the backyard with Diggin's children. "She was a really sweet mom."
Green says the children are now with their dad and his family.
Neighbors said sheriff's deputies have been to the home repeatedly, including just the day before she was killed.
"Saturday I saw her outside with two police patrol cars, gathering some more of her belongings. She was looking frantic, very upset," said a neighbor who did not want to give her name.
"There's a history of police coming, restraining orders," said another friend who only gave her first name, Shacoma. "They knew about it."
Friends have been leaving flowers, balloons and candles outside the front door of the townhouse.
"She was a beautiful person, a beautiful soul," Shacoma said. "Very kind. All about her kids. A wonderful mom."
Shacoma is urging other victims of domestic violence to reach out for help.
"Speak up," she said. "Don't feel like you're alone."
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