13 replies to this topic

[Lori Davis]

http://www.stormtrac...r-missing-woman

Chesterfield Police look for missing woman

Posted: Apr 06, 2012 10:45 AM EDT
Updated: Apr 11, 2012 10:45 AM EDT
By Kelly Avellino


Leyla Namiranian

CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT) - A Chesterfield woman hasn't been seen since leaving her work Wednesday evening, which has police concerned about where she may be.

Police believe Leyla Namiranian left work around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and went to her home on the 2000 block of Normandstone Drive.

Namiranian is the director of marketing at Altria, according to her LinkedIn account. However, when she didn't arrive at work Thursday without any word, her employers called police.

Police found her car at her home, where there was no indication she planned to leave and no sign of struggle.

Her purse and cell phone were gone.

Neighbors say Leyla usually kept to herself, working long hours. However, Melissa Gilmore, who lives nearby, says she noticed that Namiranian's home was unusually quiet in recent weeks. "I did notice that the grass looked unkept, and a lot of newspapers in the driveway," says Gilmore.

Though, other neighbors say lawn workers put in new mulch and flowers just a couple days ago — unusual if Leyla did intend on leaving permanently.

Leyla's family is in Italy. Her ex-husband lives on the west coast and police say they don't suspect him to be involved.

The 41-year-old is described as a white female, about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing 140 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes.

Police are investigating this as a suspicious missing person. Anyone with information about Namiranian's whereabouts should call Chesterfield County Police at 586-748-1251.

[Lori Davis]

http://wtvr.com/2012...-disappearance/

Missing woman’s father flies in from Italy as search continues

Posted on: 11:24 pm, April 11, 2012, by Angela Pellerano, updated on: 11:06pm, April 14, 2012

CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WTVR) -Chesterfield police say none of Leyla Namiranian’s credit cards have been used since she went missing over a week ago.

Altria, her employer, has arranged this week to fly Leyla Namiranian’s father to Richmond from Italy, as the search continues for her, confirmed her ex-husband.

As puzzling as it is for detectives, it’s just as baffling to her family and friends.

Her ex-husband, Babak Namiranian, lives in Seattle, but says the two remained friends after their divorce a few years ago.

“She`s extremely conservative. Even if she`s going to be late for work for two minutes, she calls five times,” he said.

Namiranian says his ex-wife never did anything in the spur of the moment.

“Honestly, this is the most puzzling part,” he said.

Leyla was last seen leaving her job at 6:30 p.m. at Altria last Wednesday night.

Police believe she returned to her home in Chesterfield because her car was there, but there were no signs of forced entry or a struggle.

Namiranian say the last time he spoke to Leyla was three days before she disappeared. He said she sounded upbeat.

“She mentioned starting a new diet for five weeks, and recommended a new book and what have you,” he said.

Namiranian says Leyla spoke to her brother the same day. He lives in Italy, and says that Leyla told him she had met someone online and they were supposed to meet.

“Now, who that person was and how they were supposed to meet, I have no idea… but when the brother mentioned the person she had met online, especially the timing, that`s the only thing that may make sense,” Namiranian said.

Chesterfield Police spokesperson, Elizabeth Caroon told CBS 6 News’ Angela Pellerano that Namiranian’s purse and cell phone are missing.

Additionally, Caroon says Babak Namiranian does not appear to be a suspect in the case, but they are not ruling anyone out at this time.”

If you have any information about Leyla, call Chesterfield Police at586- 748-1251.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.nbc12.com...-contacts-nbc12

Person of interest in Midlothian disappearance contacts NBC12

Posted: Jun 09, 2012 10:10 AM EDT
Updated: Jun 09, 2012 12:43 PM EDT
Posted by Eric Blackstock

A man claiming to be a person of interest in the disappearance of a Midlothian woman has reached out to NBC12.

When asked by NBC12's Sarah Bloom if he had anything to do with Leyla Namiranian's disappearance, or if he killed her, the man said, "No."

41-year-old Leyla Namiranian was reported missing in early April. Namiranian's employers called police when she didn't show up to work. Investigators say there were no signs of struggle at Namiranian's home on Normandstone Drive. We're told Namiranian mostly kept to herself.

"I didn't see her that night," the man told NBC12. "I have nothing to do with it."

The man says he never lived with Namiranian, but did visit her a lot. He says they were great friends, had no problems, and would send text messages to each other regularly.

"We got along fine," the man told NBC12.

Earlier reports suggested Namiranian may have been trying to meet someone she had met online, prior to her disappearance. According to the man who contacted NBC12, his initial introduction with Namiranian was in person and not over the Internet.

That man admits to spending time at Namiranian's home, but denies living there.

Now, that man tells NBC12 he's afraid for his life and fears returning home due to the attention he's received from this investigation.

At one point, investigators searched the person of interest's apartment and car, taking some clothing from both. Those articles were sent off for forensic testing, but police couldn't say what prompted them to seize those items in the first place.

Police have found Namiranian's two cell phones, a work and personal phone, both near roads, but exactly where those phones were found, officers aren't saying. One phone was damaged, but police tell us they were able to get information from the device. Namiranian had no outgoing calls after the time she seems to have disappeared, according to police.

The man claiming to be the person of interest says detectives are also in possession of his cell phone.

Right now, Namiranian's disappearance is only being investigated as a missing persons case.

The man police are calling a person of interest hasn't been charged with any crime.

If you know anything about this case, please call Chesterfield Police at 586-748-1251.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.nbc12.com...an-isnt-talking

Police say key witness in case of missing woman isn't talking

Posted: Jun 11, 2012 5:07 PM EDT
Updated: Jun 11, 2012 5:34 PM EDT
By Tara Morgan



CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT) - Chesterfield police said a key witness in a woman's mysterious disappearance is holding up the case.

41-year-old Leyla Namiranian has been missing for more than two months now. Police said a Richmond man believed to be the last to see her is no longer talking to investigators.

A search warrant affidavit states Namiranian did not leave her home voluntarily. It also tells us what she was doing the night before she was reported missing. Police said a key witness could fill in some blanks, but isn't!

He's identified in the search warrant as Peter Paoli. Police said he worked with Namiranian at one point at Altria.

"Primarily, he's probably a witness. We don't have any evidence he committed a crime, but at this point we can't rule him out," said Chesterfield Captain David Pritchard.

According to the search warrant affidavit, the Richmond man had a late dinner with Namiranian here at her home on April 4th.  He stayed about two hours and went home about 11 o'clock.

Another co-worker called police the next day after Namiranian didn't show for meetings.

The warrant states phone records show Paoli was the last person to speak with Namiranian and possibly the last to see her. His DNA is being compared against a stain found at Namiranian's house.

Police said Paoli initially shared information with investigators but has a lot more valuable details they'd like to hear.

"He is holding up our investigation by not meeting with us," said Capt. Pritchard.

Police said Paoli hired attorney Steven Benjamin who offered to take questions from investigators and return with written responses from his client.

"As any attorney knows that's not a valid law enforcement interview. A lot of what we do is watching facial and physical expressions and seeing how people respond to questions," said Capt. Pritchard.

Last week, police revealed they have a person of interest, a second man also from Richmond.  Police took clothing from his car and apartment.

That man reached out to NBC12 and said he didn't have anything to do with her disappearance.

I reached out to attorney Steven Benjamin but he would not comment.

Police said they're not settled on any theory of crime, if there is even a crime that has occurred.

[Denise Harrison]

http://www2.timesdis...ats-ar-1980924/

Person of interest in missing woman case accused of threatening wife

By: Mark Bowes | Richmond Times-Dispatch , Reed Williams | Times-Dispatch
Published: June 12, 2012

RICHMOND, Va. --A man police have identified as the primary person of interest in the disappearance of Altria research director Leyla Namiranian has threatened to kill his estranged wife and told her he would take her to King William County where no one could find her, according to a court document released Monday.

The person of interest, Michael Anthony Edwards, 51, also told his wife, Catherine Brown Edwards, that he would burn up her home with her inside it, according to an affidavit she wrote Feb. 2 to obtain a protective order against him.

In the affidavit, filed in Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, Catherine Edwards wrote that she was verbally abused every day and that in February her husband threatened to kill her for no reason.

"He always say he is going to kill me, and if I ever put him out he will burn my house up with me in it because he is not the same Michael," she wrote in the affidavit.

"I am tired of being fearful for my life because he is getting high," she wrote. "And he always tell me he will take me to King William where no one can find me. It is always he is going to kill me. And now it's time for me to stand up for myself. He is very violent and I am tired of being tired and threating. Please help me."

Court documents show Catherine Edwards had a preliminary protective order issued against Michael Edwards and that it was in effect from Feb. 2 through Feb. 15. On Feb. 15, a judge denied a request for a family abuse preliminary protective order.

Edwards, a laborer who lives in Richmond and works in Hanover County, is one of two men whom authorities have identified as a person of interest in the Namiranian case. Neither man has been charged.

Edwards could not be reached for comment Monday, but last week he firmly denied any involvement in the disappearance and said he has cooperated with police. He said he and Namiranian were friends but that he could not recall where they met.

In an interview Friday, Catherine Edwards said her husband is not violent. She said she had sought the protective order after he made a threatening statement that he later said he did not make. She said they have lived separately since late January or early February.

The clerk of the Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court agreed Monday to release Catherine Edwards' affidavit to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Also Monday, in a brief interview, Catherine Edwards said she no longer wants to comment on the case. "I'm finished with this stuff," she said.

Meanwhile, Chesterfield County police continue to investigate the April 4 disappearance of Namiranian, 41, who lives in the Roxshire subdivision in the Midlothian area.

Authorities did not wish to comment Monday on the affidavit, but they said King William does not figure into their investigation — at least at this point.

"We don't have any evidence that leads us to believe that anything has happened in King William," said Chesterfield police Capt. David Pritchard.

King William Sheriff Jeff Walton said Chesterfield police have not contacted his office about the Namiranian case.

Authorities said last week that Edwards told police that he had been dating Namiranian around the time she disappeared. Authorities have searched his car and his home at the Fern Tree Apartments in the 3800 block of Chamberlayne Avenue in North Richmond. The search warrants are sealed and unavailable for viewing.

Authorities said they found no sign of a struggle at Michael Edwards' home or at Namiranian's house. But according to a police affidavit filed in Richmond Circuit Court, evidence suggests that she did not leave her home voluntarily. One of her cellphones was found damaged in a roadway, and the other was recovered from the side of a road.

Authorities also have identified a former Altria executive as a secondary person of interest. That man, Peter Paoli, 54, contacted police after Namiranian disappeared and told them he had visited her home for dinner on April 4 — the last day she was seen or heard from — and stayed there from about 9 until 11 p.m.

Police have expressed frustration with what they describe as a lack of cooperation by Paoli, an allegation that has been sharply disputed by Paoli's attorney.

Authorities said they obtained a saliva sample from Paoli, which was taken to compare his DNA against DNA from a "stain" found at Namiranian's home.

Authorities also have taken a sample of Edwards' DNA, but police said the search warrant is sealed.

[Lori Davis]

http://wtvr.com/2012...ing-woman-case/

Person of interest raises red flag in missing woman case

Posted on: 7:08 pm, June 14, 2012, by Alix Bryan

CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WTVR)–The criminal past of one person of interest in the Leyla Namiranian case is as long as it is violent.

Court records indicate that in 1991 the man, who CBS 6 is choosing not to identify, was convicted of the gruesome stabbing of his ex-girlfriend. Records indicate that the female victim almost died and the crime happened in front of her children.

“Having someone with such a violent past is something that draws a lot of suspicion,” said Capt. David Pritchard of the Chesterfield Police Department.

At the sentencing hearing for the malicious wounding conviction, the person of interest’s lawyers spoke on his behalf and asked the judge for leniency despite the violent nature of what had happened.

In a court transcript his attorney said to the judge, “She was stabbed around the mouth and I believe in the chest, and had a collapsed lung. I suppose we’re fortunate that this was not a murder charge.”

Chesterfield Police claim they’ve been aware of the thick criminal history on this individual since their investigation started two months ago. They also know about several other convictions for the man in surrounding jurisdictions.

In 1999 he was charged with two DUI charges in Henrico and Hanover within the same month. Additionally that year he faced a grand larceny charge and an armed robbery charge in Caroline County.

“We have to build a case on its own merits not based on past history, but we’re certainly concerned about this,” said Pritchard.

Police say the recently released details about persons of interest in the case has helped in bringing forth some useful information, but they are still in need of more. They claim the case is being worked continuously by detectives as they  consistently receive concerned calls about the welfare of Namiranian.

“We’ve never stopped working the case. We’ve never slowed down on it either. There’s a lot going on , but not all of it is stuff we’re able to share, “ said Pritchard.

[Shannon]

http://wtvr.com/2012...ts-in-the-case/

Missing woman’s ex-husband doesn’t understand why case is going cold

Posted on: 12:00 am, November 2, 2012

by Angela Pellerano

Midlothian, Va. (WTVR) – On a clear November day, the home of Leyla Namiranian remains empty.

For neighbors, it’s almost eerie that Namiranian vanished without a trace.

“There`s a yard crew that works on her yard, and I often wonder what`s going on with the case,” says neighbor, Melissa Gilmore.

And the answer from Chesterfield County Police: nothing new to report.

CBS 6 spoke to Namiranian’s ex-husband, Babak Namiranian, from Seattle. He says after the divorce, the two remained friends.

He says he cannot understand why there has been no real development in her case.

“I cannot find anything meaningful or helpful related to her case within the last few months,” said Namiranian. “We are relying solely on the authorities to come up with real development and updates which we hope will happen soon.”

The 41-year-old Altria executive was reported missing on April 4 when she didn’t show up for work.

Police later found her car parked outside her Midlothian home, but no sign of Namiranian. 

An extensive search began. And, in June two persons of interests were identified. But, it’s been seven months since she disappeared, and no one’s been arrested. The search warrants are sealed.

“I remember them searching the woods right beside my house, yes I do,” said neighbor, Lynda Fitzmaurice.

She befriended Namiranian’s father when he came over from Italy after learning about his daughter’s disappearance.

“I spent time with her Dad before he left, and he seemed frustrated so he went back to Italy…. sometimes he’d be sitting near the pillar out at the driveway, the most pitiful thing you could ever seen…I worry for the family,” she said.

Like the weather, she feels the case has gone cold.

“I don’t know. It’s going to be one of those cases that’s never going to be solved,” she said.

The last time we heard from police about the case was back in August. That’s when they told us some of the evidence from the scene was inconclusive.

Wednesday,  police declined an interview, but we did ask whether the two persons of interest in the case had been cleared.

Chesterfield Detective Randy Horowitz declined to comment.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.nbc12.com...sing-woman-case

Blood in car triggers new developments in missing woman case

Posted: Jan 15, 2013 7:47 AM EST
Updated: Jan 15, 2013 7:47 AM EST
By Mike Valerio
Posted by Phil Newsome

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - Police revealed a new discovery in the case of a missing Chesterfield woman. Blood was found in the trunk of a car owned by the primary person of interest.

Leyla Namiranian disappeared last April. The discovery was made by a blood-sniffing dog. A report Tuesday morning from the Richmond Times-Dispatch says investigators discovered blood traces in the trunk of her ex-boyfriend's car.

That man, Michael Anthony Edwards, is the primary person of interest in the disappearance. A CSI team found the evidence with a chemical used to reveal blood traces.

Cell phone records put Edwards near Namiranian's home for five hours the night of her disappearance April 4. They also show him near I-95, where both of Namiranian's phones were found.

Edwards has denied any involvement, and hasn't been charged. Police have said throughout the case, the physical evidence does not conclusively tie Michael Anthony Edwards to the disappearance.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.nbc12.com...s-disappearance

One year anniversary of Chesterfield woman's disappearance
Posted: Apr 04, 2013 5:13 PM EDT
Updated: Apr 14, 2013 5:40 PM EDT
By Sarah Bloom

CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT) -Leyla Namiranian has been missing for one year and authorities have not revealed any new leads in the case.

Officially, Namiranian was last seen leaving her job as an Altria Executive, one year ago April 4th. To date no charges have been pressed and no one has been arrested.

Namiranian lived in a quiet home on Normandstone Drive in Chesterfield. Police say a man named Michael Edwards may have been with her the night she disappeared. He's the man police have been circling for information in the case. Court documents revealed he was an ex-boyfriend.

Namiranian apparently wrote in a journal that Edwards told her, "Someday I'll see you out in the street and I'm gonna get you."

Cell phone records show Leyla Namiranin was near her home for 5 hours the night she went missing. Edward's phone places him in the same area.

The next day, cell records show Edwards driving on 1-95, where police found one of Leyla's cell phones.

Court papers say Edwards did speak to police, but gave them inconsistent stories and admitted to lying.

Police also searched Edward's care and took several items: duct tape, a blanket, a bucket, and Clorox. There were even reports of blood found in Edward's car.

Sarah Bloom did speak to a man we presume to be Michael Edwards over the phone a few months ago. She asked him in no uncertain terms, "Did you kill Leyla Namiranian?" He said "no". He told Sarah Bloom in that same phone call that he "had nothing to do with it" and "didn't see her that night". He also said they were great friends and texted regularly, but wouldn't admit to a relationship.

Police have said Edwards is a suspect in Leyla's disappearance, but he has not been charged. We reached out to Edwards several times on this anniversary, but have not been able to speak to him.

Altria released the following statement: "We remain deeply concerned about our colleague, Leyla Namiranian; and we have continued to assist law enforcement in their efforts by responding to their requests for information that could help them in the investigation of her disappearance."

If you know anything about the case, it could really help police. Just call crime solvers at 804-748-0660. You can remain anonymous.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.timesdisp...cb411f8d4e.html

Missing woman's items sold
Altria exec s house for sale as investigation stalls in Chesterfield

Posted: Monday, September 23, 2013 9:54 am
BY MARK BOWES
Richmond TimesDispatch

In a sign that family members of missing Altria research director Leyla Namiranian have fading hopes that she will be found alive, the Midlothian woman's possessions were sold at auction last week and her house has been put up for sale.

A little more than 17 months after Namiranian vanished under suspicious circumstances,hundreds of her household possessions — including appliances, books, clothes and furniture — were sold Sept. 11 through Cannon's Auctions.

The estate sale was arranged by a court-appointed conservator who was granted the authority last year to take control of her property.

The conservator, attorney Paul G. Izzo, also has arranged through Virginia Properties, a Richmond-area real estate company, to sell Namiranian's home in the 2000 block of Normand-stone Drive. The home was placed on the market Sunday for $395,000.

Namiranian's father and brother, who live in Italy, petitioned Chesterfield County Circuit Court in May 2012 — about a month after she disappeared-to appoint Izzo as conservator of her estate, probate court records show.

"Since my daughter disappeared, no one has been managing her residence or paying her bills," Mohammed Seyed Hadi Meraji, Namiranian's father, wrote in an affidavit last year. "I believe that a conservator is necessary to determine the extent of my daughter's property, care for such property in her absence and preserve its value."

The liquidation of Namiranian's assets comes as Chesterfield investigators remain stymied in their investigation into her disappearance.

Her case remains active, but police have not received any substantive new leads for months that could help move the investigation forward, said Chesterfield police Capt. Chris Hensley. She is classified as missing and not dead, although hopes that she is still alive have 

Edwards

The only new development to emerge is the recovery of a man's jacket that was sold to a buyer during Namiranian's estate sale last week. The buyer contacted police after taking possession of the jacket and finding some type of stain on it. Police obtained the jacket and sent it to the Virginia state lab for forensic testing, Hen-sley said.

"That's the only new piece (to the case)," Hensley said. "We do have some citizens that have contacted us on their opinions about where the case is and what's going on. But we get those on some cases where people are watching the news and following things, and offer their thoughts on what we need to do or where we might go next."

Hensley said Michael Anthony Edwards, 51, a Richmond man with whom Namiranian had severed a relationship about the time she vanished, remains investigators' primary person of interest in the case.

Court papers unsealed in January suggest that Namiranian was afraid of Edwards in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, and that she told a close friend that Edwards had reacted poorly to their breakup and would show up at her Midlothian home unannounced. Namiranian also told the friend that Edwards had choked and threatened her. according to the court papers.

The documents further allege that Edwards admitted he lied to investigators but ultimately told them he went to see Edwards on the night of April 4, the last day she was seen, and that he parked outside her home early the following morning.

Edwards has not been charged in the case, and he has adamantly denied any involvement in her disappearance.

Investigators have received some further cooperation from another person of interest, Peter Paoli, who had contacted police after Namiranian went missing and told them he had visited her home for dinner April 4 and stayed from about 9 to 11 p.m.

Police said Paoli, the former president and CEO of U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., a subsidiary of Altria Group, has been unwilling to make himself available for interview. But Hensley said Paoli subsequently agreed to answer some questions submitted through his attorney Steven Benjamin, who offered to serve as an intermediary.

Investigators submitted to the state lab a number of items they seized during searches of Edwards' car and his former Richmond apartment — including traces of blood in the trunk of Edwards' 2002 Cadillac — but none of those conclusively tied Edwards to the disappearance, police said.

"We didn't have any new leads generated through forensic analysis," Hensley said.

Aside from the items auctioned off last week, investigators have retained as potential evidence several items — including clothing, computers and documents — that they removed from Namiranian's home early in the case, Hensley said.

At the time of her disappearance, Namiranian, who was director of marketing and consumer research for Altria Client Services, had more than $85,000 in two Bank of America accounts and a 2006 Mercedes-Benz, according to an audit of her estate included in court records.

She had a house full of nice furnishings, including top-quality Persian rugs and Ikea living room furniture, but the estate sale netted only $10,879, according to an online inventory posted on the Cannon's Auctions website.

"Everything that we were instructed to sell, which was the vast majority of the items in the house, were sold," said auction house owner Clide Cannon. "My part of this was to liquidate the contents, which we did."

Her home, a four-bedroom Colonial with 2M> baths that she and her former husband purchased in 2007 for $427,500, now has an assessed value of $384,200, according to real estate records.

The proceeds from the auction, the sale of Namiranian's house — minus the remaining mortgage balance — and the cash assets she had on hand will be safeguarded and managed by Izzo, the conservator, until he receives instructions from the court on what to do with it, said Bryan Selz, Chesterfield's commissioner of accounts, who is overseeing the liquidation of Namiranian's estate.

[Lori Davis]

NamUs profile for Leyla Namiranian - Case 23055

https://www.findthem.../cases/23055/0/

 

[Lori Davis]

http://www.mrweb.com...o/news18958.htm

 

Two Years On: Leyla Namiranian Still Missing

 

April 11 2014

 

In the US, Chesterfield County, VA-based researcher Leyla Namiranian is still missing, more than two years after she was last seen leaving work.

 

Leyla NamiranianNamiranian was last seen on April 4th 2012 after leaving tobacco giant Altria (previously named Philip Morris), where she served as Director of Marketing and Consumer Research. She was divorced and had been living alone at the time of her disappearance, and officers investigating the mystery found her car parked in the garage, with no signs of a struggle inside the home.

 

Police found that she had written in her diary that she ‘feared for her safety’, after former boyfriend Michael Anthony Edwards had reportedly come to her house uninvited, and choked and threatened her. Phone records show that Edwards, who has a violent criminal record, had been outside Namiranian’s home for about five hours on the night before she disappeared, and traces of blood, duct tape, a bucket, and towels were then found in the boot of one of his cars. However, detectives said this did not ‘conclusively’ tie him to the case. Detectives later found a mobile phone belonging to Namiranian by a main road, and another in a ditch a mile north. They confirmed that Edwards worked near the area where these phones had been discovered.

 

At the time of her disappearance, Namiranian had more than $85k in two bank accounts. Last year, her father and brother, who live in Italy, had petitioned the local county court to have her four bedroom house put on the market and its contents and her Mercedes-Benz sold, adding that since her disappearance, her estate had not been managed and nobody had paid her bills.

 

News channel WTVR recently asked local police to provide the name of the case detective, but the request was declined, with the police stating that they have nothing new to add the information already released.

[Deborah]

Leyla is still missing.

 

Chesterfield, VA Police at 586-748-1251.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.richmond....58f923fd5b.html

 

Trial begins in slaying of missing Altria executive Leyla Namiranian

 

Posted: Monday, April 18, 2016 8:49 am

By MARK BOWES • Richmond Times-Dispatch

 

A Chesterfield County prosecutor on Monday told jurors they should be able to convict a man of killing an Altria executive whose body never was found after tying together all the circumstantial evidence they’ll hear during the next several days.

 

But in opening arguments during the first day of Michael Anthony Edwards’ trial in the presumed death of Leyla Namiranian, the defense countered that prosecutors have a very high burden in proving she actually died, let alone that Edwards killed his former girlfriend with premeditation.

 

The opening salvos of a scheduled weeklong trial occurred late Monday after both sides spent most of the day selecting a jury in Chesterfield Circuit Court.

Part of the difficulty in finding the right mix of people arose when some members of the jury pool balked at whether they could convict a person of murder without a body. At least five potential jurors expressed reservations, with one man saying flatly he could not. He was dismissed.

 

Prosecutors in two other Virginia localities have won convictions in “no-body” homicides in the past two years, but the list of killers found guilty in such cases remains small.

 

Win or lose, the trial could be the final chapter in a vexing, four-year mystery that began when Namiranian, 41, mysteriously disappeared sometime after she had dinner with a former co-worker at her home in the 2000 block of Normandstone Drive about 11 p.m. on April 4, 2012.

 

Namiranian was reported missing the next day after another co-worker told police she uncharacteristically failed to arrive for work as director of marketing and consumer research for Altria Client Services, a subsidiary of the Altria Group.

 

Namiranian, described as a highly skilled and handsomely paid executive, was so dedicated to her job that she never would miss work or be late without notification, Chesterfield Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Larry S. Hogan said.

 

Hogan on Monday spent most of his 45-minute opening argument outlining the prosecution’s entire case and what jurors could expect to hear as evidence. He noted the prosecution’s case largely is circumstantial with some direct evidence.

 

The prosecution will rely heavily on cellphone records tied to Edwards’ phone; entries in a journal Namiranian kept that outlined her relationship with the defendant; and the findings of a police cadaver dog that Hogan said “alerted” to the presence of human remains in the trunk of Edwards’ Cadillac.

 

Hogan said the prosecution will establish that Edwards, 56, a laborer with a violent criminal past, killed Namiranian in a jealous rage after she broke off their unorthodox relationship Feb. 18, after an incident in which he choked and threatened her.

 

But defense attorney Greg Sheldon said despite testing of numerous items for fingerprints and DNA — using the services of three different laboratories — prosecutors have not located any physical evidence that implicates Edwards.

 

“There is no DNA, fingerprint or other scientific evidence that proves the defendant’s criminal agency or demonstrates how, or even if, Ms. Namiranian died,” Sheldon wrote in one court filing.

 

Hogan on Monday mentioned a “Caucasian” hair found inside the trunk of Edwards’ car that was found to be consistent with hairs in Namiranian’s hair brush, according to an FBI lab trace analysis of the evidence.

 

Also discovered in the trunk was a laundry bag that contained a red blanket that was similar in size and color to one in Namiranian’s house, along with a roll of duct tape.

 

But the case appears to hinge more strongly on indirect evidence, such as Namiranian’s journal in which she recorded her fears about Edwards after she broke things off.

 

In an entry for Feb. 26, 2012, about eight days after she ended their relationship, Namiranian wrote that she “got scared” when Edwards suddenly showed up at her door, and she was “really upset that he just tried to ignore my request that he doesn’t come back until invited.”

 

“His moods are very sudden and he is very jealous, very insecure,” she wrote. “He drives me crazy. Even when we are not together he is jealous ... this cannot work.”

 

Hogan also told jurors they will see detailed cellphone records that show Edwards attempted to call Namiranian on April 4 at 8:57 p.m. — hours before she disappeared — using a cellphone tower near where he worked in Hanover County.

 

Records also show that Edwards’ phone utilized a cellphone tower near Namiranian’s home to make calls to her at 9:42 p.m., 9:45 p.m. and 9:58 p.m. that evening.

 

The next morning, Namiranian’s two phones — one for work, another for personal use — were using the same cell tower in her neighborhood — as was Edwards’ phone. Later that afternoon, Hogan explained, all three phones began to move north and, around 2 p.m., all three utilized the same cell tower near Interstates 95 and 295, which is the route Edwards took to his job.

 

Police later located both of Namiranian’s phones along northbound I-95 where they had been discarded.

 

Hogan said Namiranian, a native of Italy who became a U.S. citizen in January 2012, was a very kind and considerate person who was looking for a relationship to make her happy.

 

“She was struggling,” the prosecutor said. “She was not finding it with (Edwards).”