Muriel Bowser

Body of Va. Murder Suspect Found Near School

Balloons and flowers mark the townhouse where police say a Virginia woman was shot to death by her boyfriend, Edward Everett Hale Jr., early Sunday.

Hale was found dead near T. Clay Wood Elementary School in Nokesville on Monday morning, Prince William County police said. It's just over a mile and half from where police say Hale's girlfriend, Jessica Leigh Wilson, was shot and killed outside a Bristow, Virginia townhouse early Sunday morning.

Wilson, 31, was a mother of two.

Prince Williams County police say the couple had been involved in a  verbal altercation before Wilson was shot. She was transported to an area hospital, where she later died.

"She was a wonderful young lady," neighbor Milt Sharp said of Wilson. Sharp said he witnessed the shooting and tried to come to her aid.

Hi had been getting ready to leave for a business trip when he noticed Wilson and Hale, at first just talking, inside a car in the driveway. Then, Sharp said, he saw Hale choking her.

Sharp said he shouted. "He let her go once he heard my voice, and she yelled out to me, 'Call the cops! He has a knife and he has a gun.'"

Sharp says he opened his front door and told his son to call 911. When he turned around, Wilson had fallen while trying to get away.

"He pointed the weapon at her while she was on the ground and she said, 'Ed, don't do this,' and he shot her," Sharp said.

Sharp says he immediately ducked into his house, shouted at his family to get down. He heard two more shots fired, then heard the suspect drive away.

Sharp said that as he performed CPR on the victim, his wife and son stood alongside him for support, urging him to continue with the heart-wrenching task.

"I was talking to Jessica, telling her that she needed to live, that she needed to live for her children and that I was here and that I was helping her and that she needed to live, and that they [first responders] were on their way," Sharp said.

Wilson died at the hospital.

Sharp canceled his business trip, the family fearful Hale could come looking for them. But early Monday morning, an alert staffer at T. Clay Wood Elementary School spotted the car Hale fled in.

Incoming students were taken to Brentsville High School for the day.

"Everyone moved very quickly to redirect buses and get kids to a safe place so we could do the search and keep them safe," said First Sgt. Kim Chinn of Prince William County Police.

Hale's body was found near the baseball fields. Police believe he shot himself.

News4 has also learned Prince William County Police had responded to a domestic complaint at Wilson's townhouse just 10 days ago. They say she got an emergency protective order, but hadn't followed up with a more permanent order.

Neighbors say the couple had lived at the townhouse for about a year. Hale was reportedly in the process of moving out.

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