Va. man convicted of murder 2 months after he was found guilty of killing his girlfriend, father figure

NORFOLK, Va. (TCD) -- A 32-year-old man who had already been convicted of murdering his girlfriend, father-figure, and dog was found guilty this week of fatally shooting another man he saw as a "liability."

The Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Office announced Wednesday, May 22, that a jury found Cola Beale IV guilty of first-degree murder and using a firearm in the commission of murder in the death of his cousin Downing Dujuan McLean.

According to the statement, on March 28, 2022, investigators from the Virginia Beach Police Department and Norfolk Police Special Operations Team executed a search warrant at an apartment on Sewells Point Road and found McLean deceased. Detectives identified Beale as the suspect because of two other killings in the area that took place a few days before McLean’s body was discovered. Beale was arrested March 30, 2022, and admitted to killing all three victims.

McLean was shot in the mouth and head.

Beale reportedly "considered Mr. McLean to be a liability, as Mr. McLean was knowledgeable of the previous murders Mr. Beale committed."

The Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney said Beale’s "violent crime spree" began March 22, 2022, when he went to his girlfriend Czavi’er Hill’s house and began arguing with her. Ring doorbell footage reportedly recorded the sounds of fighting and a "pop." Beale was reportedly seen walking in and out of Hill’s house in the days following the shooting and carrying a gun. Two days later, he reportedly entered her home with a towel over his face and set her home and car on fire. Hill’s dog was burned alive in his crate.

When firefighters managed to put out the blaze, they discovered Hill had been bound and duct taped.

Between March 22 and March 25, 2022, Beale went to Clifton Baxter’s home and shot him with the same gun he used on Hill. The attorney’s office said Baxter was "like a father figure" to Beale, but Beale shot him in the head. A relative asked police to conduct a welfare check, and he was found dead on March 25, 2022.

Beale was convicted in March of aggravated murder, abduction, torture, and other crimes in relation to Hill and Baxter’s deaths. He was convicted in the past of robbery, use of a firearm, wearing a mask in public, conspiracy, and sexual battery.

WAVY-TV reports Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi said following the verdict, "Three murders is infinitely worse than one murder, which itself is unimaginable."

Beale will be sentenced in August.

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