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VOL. 24 NO. 29

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

www.richmondfreepress.com

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Serena wins Wimbledon

JULY 16-18, 2015

A mother’s grief

Catherine Uwasomba seeks clues, answers to her daughter’s disappearance, death

Body cameras coming

By Joey Matthews

Richmond police officers could be wearing body cameras as early as this fall. Chief Alfred Durham said Tuesday the nearly 740-officer force should have about 200 body cameras purchased and ready for use by officers “by October or November.” He made his remarks during a news conference at police headquarters on Grace Street at which he and Mayor Dwight C. Jones touted mostly declining rates in maChief Durham jor crimes across the city through the first six months of 2015. Tammy D. Hawley, a spokesperson for the mayor, told the Free Press the body cameras and related technologies are to be purchased with an appropriation of about $400,000 from the City Council for fiscal year 2016. Chief Durham said he also wants to bring the NAACP and ACLU “to the table” to make sure the department gets it right in utilizing the body cameras to Please turn to A4

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Catherine Uwasomba of Chesterfield County has had little rest or peace since her missing daughter, Ogechi, was found dead March 11 in a Richmond alley.

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

By Joey Matthews

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John Bazemore/Associated Press

A South Carolina Highway Patrol honor guard removes the Confederate flag from the Columbia statehouse grounds during a ceremony witnessed by thousands.

Jason Miczek/Reuters

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley signs legislation July 9 permanently removing the Confederate flag from the State Capitol grounds in Columbia. She used nine pens that later were given to the families of the nine people killed by a white supremacist at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

When will former Gov. Bob McDonnell go to prison? That appears to be the only unanswered question in the case of the once powerful and now disgraced Virginia Republican. His future behind bars appears almost certain now that the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld his conviction on public corruption charges. “Appellant received a fair trial and was duly convicted by a jury of his fellow Virginians. We have no cause to undo what has been done,” Judge Stephanie D. Thacker wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel. A federal jury convicted Mr. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen McDonnell, in September 2014 on multiple counts of corruption for accepting $177,000 in unreported gifts and loans from businessman Jonnie Williams Sr. for using their influence to aid his dietary supplement company. U.S. District Court Judge James R. Spencer sentenced Mr. McDonnell in January to a twoyear term, but he has been free on bond during his appeal. Mrs. McDonnell was sentenced in February to one year and a day in prison. Her appeal has yet to be heard, and she also remains free on bond. Ruling July 10 on Mr. McDonnell’s appeal, Judge Thacker and her colleagues, Judges Diane Gribbon Motz and Robert King, found that government prosecutors presented sufficient evidence for a jury to conclude that Mr. McDonnell had “corrupt intent.” In the 89-page opinion, Judge Thacker ticked off a series of examples of how Mr. McDonnell acted to benefit Mr. Williams after receiving gifts and loans from him. Mr. McDonnell has maintained that although

New school to be named Elkhardt-Thompson By Joey Matthews

And the winner is … Elkhardt-Thompson Middle School. The Richmond School Board unanimously voted Monday to give

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Federal appeals court upholds former governor’s conviction

Movement grows to eradicate Confederate symbols A growing number of Virginians are enlisting in a grassroots movement spreading across the nation to remove from the public square the vestiges of the traitors who fought against the nation during the Civil War to preserve slavery. Less than a week after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a bipartisan group of lawmakers and thousands of people of all ethnicities assembled July 10 to cheer the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds in Columbia, many Virginians are signaling they are fed up as well with Confederate symbols of hate and are saying “enough is enough.” Illustrating the point, Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones ordered a huge American flag to be flown in front of City

What happened to my daughter? That’s the question a grieving mother is asking after Richmond police officers found the remains of her 28-year-old daughter — Ogechi Sarah Uwasomba — more than nine months after she was reported missing. DNA analysis confirmed the decomposed body found March 11 in an alley behind homes in the 00 block of Rodman Road on South Side to be that of Ms. Uwasomba, who lived in Chesterfield County. Her mother, Catherine Uwasomba, reported her missing to the Chesterfield Police Department on June 7, 2014. Since then, Mrs. Uwasomba repeatedly has sought answers from the Richmond and Chesterfield police departments about her daughter’s disappearance and death. She believes her daughter was a victim of foul play. She said she’s frustrated because officials from both departments have told her no evidence so far suggests foul play in her death. “Chesterfield police ruled out foul play” when it was still a missing person’s case, Mrs. Uwasomba said. Richmond police indicated they don’t believe foul play was involved even though the autopsy report has yet to be completed. “I just want justice,” Mrs. Uwasomba told the Free Press. At 5-foot-6 and about 200 pounds, Ogechi was the youngest of three daughters in the Uwasomba family — the happy-go-lucky child who always made her mother laugh. She called her daughter “my best friend,” and described her as “a warm, loving person.” A 2004 graduate of Midlothian High School, Ogechi earned an associate degree in accounting from J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in 2006. But she failed to thrive in that field, and was job hunting and planning to return to community college to pursue nursing when she disappeared. Court records show Ogechi had convictions on traffic charges, petit larceny and controlled substance possession during the past few years. Her mother attributed that to the periods when Ogechi, who she said suffered from bipolar disorder, wasn’t taking her medication. Adding to the tragedy, Mrs. Uwasomba’s husband — Onyebuchi E. Uwasomba — died of cancer six months before their daughter disappeared. Numb from the unbearable pain she has suffered, Mrs. Uwasomba recently moved from the family’s home in Chesterfield to another one in the county. “My heart will know no peace until I have an answer to the cause of my daughter’s mysterious death,” Mrs. Uwasomba said. “How did she die? Who was there with her or responsible for her death?” Mrs. Uwasomba, a native of Nigeria, said a witness reported seeing

that name to a “new” middle school on South Side. The school will open in September in the building that housed Thompson Middle School at 7825 Forest Hill Ave. Its student body will be comprised of students already at

Thompson and those from Elkhardt Middle School, which closed in February because of mold. Elkhardt students were sent across town to the old Clark Springs Elementary School in the Randolph community, where they finished the

school year. In choosing the hyphenated name, the board passed over 16 other suggestions, including Oliver W. Hill Sr. Middle School. Please turn to A4

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Mr. McDonnell

he made mistakes, he never took any “official” action to aid Mr. Williams. Judge Thacker dismissed that argument, writing that the “solicitation or acceptance of the bribe completes the crime, regardless of whether the recipient completes, or even commences, the ‘official act’ the bribe payer sought to influence.” So far, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Marshal’s Office have remained mum on when Mr. McDonnell must report to prison. Mr. McDonnell could ask the full appeals court to hear the case or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The chances of his case being heard, according to legal experts, are considered slim to none.

Election Tuesday for 74th District seat By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Next week, voters in the House of Delegates 74th District will decide whether Lamont Bagby or David M. Lambert will represent them in the General Assembly. Decision day is Tuesday, July 21. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. for registered voters in the district that includes a big chunk of Eastern Henrico County, all of Charles City County and a precinct on Richmond’s North Side. Registrars are predicting a tiny turnout in this unusual midsummer election. Gov. Terry McAuliffe called the special election to fill the seat vacated by former Please turn to A4