DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. – A 21-year-old Dinwiddie County man has been arrested in the suspicious death of a Dinwiddie High School teen.
Anton Deonte Coleman has been charged with abduction of 17-year-old Ke'Asia Adkins, whose body has been positively identified as the African-American female found Thursday morning in an area behind her home.
Anton Deonte Coleman and Ke'Asia Adkins
The cause of death was asphyxia and the manner was homicide, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Investigators had been searching the area ever since the Dinwiddie High School junior was reported missing Monday. She was last seen Monday morning when she left home for the day to go to cheer practice.
Details surrounding Adkins' death have not been released at this time, but investigators say the case is being handled as a suspicious death investigation.
Sources confirmed Coleman and Adkins were related to each other.
Coleman is being held without bond at Meherrin River Regional Jail. He will be arraigned in court on July 2, 2018.
The body of Ke'Asia Adkins was found Thursday morning behind her Sentry Hill Court home in North Dinwiddie.
The family’s pastor and spokesperson Belinda Baugh said the family held out hope until the very last minute.
“The family needs your prayers more than anything to get them through the situation,” Baugh told reporters. “She’s a beautiful girl and she will be well missed because she was well loved.”
Adkins worked for Burger King on Boydton Plank Road for about a year, according to general manager Amanda Berry.
“She was very willing to work whenever you needed her,” Berry said. “She was very sweet and always willing to help.”
Adkins was scheduled to work the day she went missing, but her coworker picked up her shift.
“That Monday she told me had to go to cheer practice, so she asked me if I could come in for her. I said yes,” Zykiria Neal remembered.
Well more than 100 people, including Adkin’s mother, showed up to a vigil Wednesday afternoon to pray for her daughter’s safe return.
"I love my daughter. I love my child. I just want her to come home," Adkin's mother Vikisha Smith cried. "I don’t care if she thinks she’s going to get in any trouble. I don't care about none of that. I'm hurting. My soul feels like it's gone. I need my baby."
If anyone has any information on this case, they are asked to contact Dinwiddie County Sheriff’s Office at 804-469-3755 or Petersburg/Dinwiddie Crime Solvers at 804-861-1212.
