Sad story
From: NBC Washington
A retired Navy veteran has been charged with kidnapping Ashanti Billie, the 19-year-old who was last seen on a naval base in Virginia and then found dead in North Carolina, federal prosecutors say.
Eric Brian Brown, 45, was charged with kidnapping, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced Wednesday.
Family spokeswoman Kimberly Wimbish, who previously has spoken on behalf of the Billie family, said earlier in the day that a suspect was in custody.
Brown's DNA was found on Billie's body, prosecutors said.
Brown is homeless and "lives at random facilities and buildings on and off the naval bases," prosecutors said. Almost every day, he visited the Blimpie's where Billie worked. Witnesses reported Brown "attempting to flirt with Billie" on several occasions. One witness said he made a "crude sexual comment" to her.
Billie, who was a student at The Art Institute of Virginia Beach, was reported missing on Sept. 18 after she failed to show up for her job at a sandwich shop on Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Norfolk, Virginia.
Her body was found 11 days later and more than 300 miles away, outside a church in a residential neighborhood of Charlotte.
Billie's cellphone was found in a dumpster nearly 3 miles away from the base. Neighbors spotted her car Sept. 23 on a dead-end road in the Ocean View section of the city. They told police the car had been there for several days.
Her body was found behind a church in Charlotte, North Carolina on Sept. 29.
Billie's heartbroken parents, veterans who live in Maryland, spoke at a news conference last month.
"She is home. She's home with God, and we're OK with that," Billie's father, Meltony Billie, said.
Billie's mother, Brandy Billie, addressed her daughter's killer and then her daughter.
"To the person or persons that decided they wanted to take our baby away from us and away from everyone that loved her: You're a coward. You don't deserve to breathe the air she breathed," she said. "Ashanti, baby, we love you, we love you and we love you."
Navy Veteran Charged in Kidnapping of Ashanti Billie, Va. Woman Found Dead in NC
just give him rehabilitation and let him serve his time.
sus comment breh.
