RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A Richmond mother was found dead in York County after police say she was abducted from her home over the weekend. She had been shot multiple times.
According to the York County Sheriff’s Office, 25-year-old Tyosha Tanique Mitchell, a mother of 2 who lived in Richmond, was found around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
A jogger found her lying face down on the side of the road about an hour from her home, East of the city.
Deputies with the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene and found Mitchell with multiple gunshot wounds; they pronounced her dead on the scene.
Sheriff Ron Montgomery said the area where she was found is remote.
“It’s a fairly isolated area. It’s wooded, no houses, really, within a few hundred yards. And as this person was running, they observed a body about ten feet off the side of the road,” he said.
The York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation with assistance from Richmond police.
“We found multiple spent casings from bullets in the roadway. It appears from our preliminary investigation that she died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds. An autopsy’s being performed right now,” Montgomery said.
According to police, Mitchell lived on Bethel Street in the Whitcomb court neighborhood in the city’s east end – and it’s still unclear how she got to York County.
8News spoke to neighbors who didn’t want to go on camera but said that she was quiet and usually kept to herself.
They also said they remember seeing a large police presence at her home later on that same day she was found shot to death.
Police now focusing on trying to piece together the story behind Mitchell’s abduction and the events leading up to her death.
“We had a woman that lives not far from there, approached us about 7:00, 7:30 that morning, said she heard gunshots about 3:45 a.m. in that area. So, we believe that this occurred sometime around that time,” Montgomery said. “That’s all we can release right now. We’re hoping to get some more information as the day progresses.”
Mitchell had two young children who are currently staying with family-according to neighbors.
Police have yet to name a suspect or identify a person of interest.
Anyone with information about Mitchell or the kidnapping is asked to call (757) 890-3621.
