A Virginia State University student has been indicted by a grand jury on charges that she killed her romantic rival. The victim was found in shot, stabbed and burned in Henrico County in 2008.
Authorities are now looking for the suspect, Kayla Camille Armstrong, 28, of Richmond, who is currently enrolled for the fall semester at VSU.
Henrico police say that at about 6:40 a.m. on New Years Eve of 2008, the fire department was dispatched to an apartment building on Crenshaw Road for a report of smoke coming from inside. Fire personnel forced their way into the residence, where they found 26-year-old Keiona Cecilia Braxton, barely alive. Efforts to stabilize her condition failed and she died at the scene.
An autopsy later determined that the victim did not die as a result of the fire, but her death was ruled a homicide. Braxton was three months pregnant.
According to news reports, Braxton was living with her boyfriend at the time of her death – the man was Armstrong’s ex-boyfriend and father of her daughter.
Henrico police did not want to comment on the case yesterday. But apparently, investigators quickly established a rivalry between Armstrong and Braxton dating back to at least 2006, when Armstrong was convicted of felony assault and served four months in jail for stabbing Braxton.
In December 2008, Armstrong allegedly attacked Braxton another time and was charged with misdemeanor assault. She was arraigned on these charges on Jan. 5, 2009 – less than a week after Braxton’s death. Armstrong remained in jail until her June 2009 trial, where she also faced vandalism and breaking and entering charges. She was found not guilty and was released. Read more: Progress-Index
