3 suspects face 85 charges in murder of man found dismembered in trash bags

SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. (TCD) --

Three suspects were indicted Monday on more than 80 charges in the February murder of a former high school classmate.

Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s deputies found a dead man in a wooded area near Pamunkey and Finney Roads at about 10 p.m. on Feb. 1, and detectives determined it was a homicide case.

The next day, investigators identified the victim as 20-year-old Stafford resident Dylan Whetzel, and announced the arrest of 19-year-old Brennan Thomas on charges of defilement and concealment of a dead body, and conspiracy.

Investigators determined Dylan Whetzel had been shot in the head and dismembered with an ax, the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star reports. Whetzel’s body had been found in multiple trash bags.

On February 10, detectives arrested Spotsylvania residents Bronwyn Meeks, 21; and Domonic Samuels, 19.

All three suspects were held at the Rappahannock Regional Jail.

Monday, a grand jury returned indictments against all three suspects.

Brennan Thomas, Bronwyn Meeks, and Domonic Samuels were each charged with first-degree murder and more than 80 other charges. Each suspect is charged with at least 27 counts, the Free Lance-Star reports.

Meeks’s charges include murder by mob; conspiracy to commit murder; and concealing a dead body, among 28 other counts.

In a 911 call played in court in a preliminary hearing in the case in May, Thomas’s grandfather said Thomas told him he had shot someone after the victim came at him, the Free Lance-Star reports. The grandfather walked into the woods and found the bags.

The Free Lance-Star reports video surveillance shows Samuels and Thomas buying an ax from Walmart at an unspecified time.

Meeks and Samuels were reportedly dating at the time of the murder, and text messages allegedly linked them to the crime.

The three suspects apparently attended Massaponax High School together, the Free Lance-Star reports.

Bronwyn Meeks’s mother reportedly worked in the sheriff’s detective division at the time of the crime, prompting the appointment of a special prosecutor in the case.

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