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Judge denies motion to suppress evidence in Tonya Slaton hearing

Posted at 7:41 PM, Jul 21, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-21 19:41:13-04

HAMPTON, Va. — A pretrial motion to suppress evidence was denied inside a Hampton courtroom Thursday in the case of a Richmond woman charged with second-degree murder in the death of her son.

Tonya Slaton is accused of killing her son, Quincy Davis, who went missing in 2004.

In a June 2015 traffic stop along I-64, a badly decomposed body was discovered stashed in the trunk of a Slaton’s car. The medical examiner’s office identified the remains as her son Quincy.

One of the State Troopers who pulled Slaton over was Chad Dermyer, who was shot and killed during a field training exercise at Richmond’s greyhound bus station in March.

Trooper Maurice Lockett testified in the pretrial hearing Thursday saying he was training with Dermyer on the day Slaton was pulled over.

Lockett was called to court because Slaton’s defense attorneys filed a motion asking the judge to suppress all evidence gathered in the case, including the human remains, according to WTVR sister station WTKR.

Quincy Davis

Quincy Davis

Lockett testified that he and Dermyer noticed an outdated orange registration sticker on Slaton’s vehicle. They decided to pull the car over.

During the stop, Lockett said the Troopers spent one hour trying to locate the car’s VIN number after Slaton could not provide her registration.

“We thought she was a victim of a VIN swap at first,” Lockett testified, who also noted the VIN numbers appeared to have been tampered with. “We thought someone stole a vehicle, switched the VIN numbers, and sold it to [Slaton].”

Because they were unable to establish who the vehicle belonged to they were required to tow it, according Lockett. Before the vehicle can be towed however, troopers have to take inventory of the vehicle.

“It’s meant to protect us, to protect the tow truck driver, and ultimately protect the driver,” Lockett said.

During the inventory of the vehicle, Trooper Dermyer discovered a black trash bag in the trunk.

Slaton allegedly threw some clothes on top of the bag, saying the bag contained just clothes. The trooper also noticed a large white stain located on the floorboard behind the driver’s seat. “When questioned, (she) explained that she spilled some bleach.”

After getting a search warrant, Lockett testified Trooper Dermyer found Quincy’s body in two plastic bags wrapped in duct tape hidden in the trunk.

After hearing all the evidence the judge denied Slaton’s lawyers request to suppress the evidence.

The next pretrial hearing in the case is scheduled for August 19.

Criminal past

Court and news records also showed Slaton had been in serious trouble before.

In October 2007, Hampton Police were looking for her and her black Mustang after she fired four shots through her boyfriend’s front door.

She had become angry when he tried to break up with her and went and got a gun out of her car, saying “neither one of them were going to leave alive,” according to a report about the affidavit in that case.

The boyfriend escaped by climbing out of a window, cutting himself.

Slaton eventually turned herself in and wound up serving the better part of four years of a 15-year sentence for shooting into an occupied dwelling and attempted maiming.

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