Trigger Warning: Domestic Violence
Man Sentenced to 26 Years for 2nd Degree Murder of Former Girlfriend After Shooting Into Her Car in 2023
NORFOLK, Va. — Dayqwan Markelle Stevenson, 31, was sentenced on Wednesday to serve 26 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to murdering his former girlfriend and mother of his child, Terri Renee Denmark, by shooting into her car in 2023.
Around 1 a.m. on April 16, 2023, Mr. Stevenson asked another individual to drive him to Ms. Denmark’s residence under the pretense of taking food to his and Ms. Denmark’s child in common. Mr. Stevenson called Ms. Denmark repeatedly during the drive and, when they arrived, asked the individual driving him to park in a lot across the street from Ms. Denmark’s apartment complex off East Ocean View Avenue. When Mr. Stevenson saw that no one was home, he called Ms. Denmark again, demanded to know where she was, and admonished her for being out late. After about ten minutes, Ms. Denmark arrived at her apartment complex in her vehicle. Mr. Stevenson then got out of the car he was in, walked up to Ms. Denmark’s car with a gun, and shot her 10 times, killing her while she was still sitting in her driver’s seat.
The individual who had driven Mr. Stevenson to Ms. Denmark’s apartment witnessed Mr. Stevenson shooting Ms. Denmark. Mr. Stevenson threatened to kill him too, compelled him to continue being his driver after the murder, and was seen with the individual on surveillance video at a store just after the shooting. Mr. Stevenson’s cell phone records also corroborated that he was at Ms. Denmark’s home at the time of the shooting. The Norfolk Police Fugitive Section and Special Operations Team took Mr. Stevenson into custody on May 18, 2023.
Mr. Stevenson had himself been the victim of a 2022 shooting in which, after he intervened in a dispute between a customer and cashier at a local convenience store, the customer shot Mr. Stevenson in the back of the head, leaving him with permanent injuries. The evidence in that case was insufficient to allow the case to go to trial.
Mr. Stevenson entered an agreement on Wednesday to plead guilty to second-degree murder and maliciously shooting into an occupied vehicle and be sentenced to serve 26 years in prison with another 24 years suspended on the condition that Mr. Stevenson comply with supervised probation for an indeterminate period following his release. Judge David W. Lannetti accepted Mr. Stevenson’s plea agreement, found him guilty, and sentenced him per the agreement.
“Mr. Stevenson, driven by jealousy, killed someone he claimed to love, taking the victim away from her family forever,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “While it is impossible to know whether Mr. Stevenson’s head injury played a part in his decision to kill the victim, he had no excuse to commit murder. Mr. Stevenson poses a danger to the public and will now serve the sentence that fits his crime.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorneys Stephanie G. Johnson and Abigail L. Ottinger prosecuted Mr. Stevenson’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth, and Norfolk Police Detectives Kyle D. Austin and Maura A. Flatley led the investigation.
If you have or someone you love has fallen victim to crime, including but not limited to domestic violence, resources are available at the Norfolk Family Justice Center. For more information, please visit norfolkfjc.org, call 757-330-0376 or stop by the NFJC inside the Park Place Multi-Services Center at 606 W. 29th St., between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. If you are in crisis, call the 24/7 hotline by dialing 757-251-0144. In an emergency, please call 911.
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