Kenyatta Jones: Double Killing, Plea Deal, and 8-Year Sentence

Kenyatta Ferrell Jones is a Norfolk, Virginia man who pleaded guilty to two counts of voluntary manslaughter for shooting his girlfriend, 23-year-old Morgan Bazemore, and her mother, 52-year-old Alicia Ann Hereford, in a Norfolk apartment parking lot on March 12, 2021. He was sentenced on July 14, 2023 to eight active years in prison, with another 12 years suspended.¹

What Happened That Night

Around midnight on March 12, 2021, Alicia Hereford got a call from her daughter Morgan Bazemore, who said she was being abused. Hereford drove to the Hunter Square Apartments on Goff Street to help her.² Jones, then 29 and living at the complex with his mother, argued with both women in the parking lot. A witness saw him shoot both women and drive off.³

Bazemore was shot in her right temple and finger. Hereford was shot twice in the back and once in the chest. Both died at the scene. A witness’s dash camera captured the shooting. Police also recovered a gun from the handbag of one of the victims, a detail that would later shape the defense’s position.³

According to Bazemore’s stepfather, the dispute started because she wanted to go to a nightclub and Jones was angry about it. The couple had been in an on-again, off-again relationship for years. In 2018, Jones had been charged with assault and battery after Bazemore accused him of hitting her multiple times.²

Jones fled and was the subject of a four-day search by Norfolk police and U.S. Marshals, who considered him armed and dangerous and posted a reward of up to $2,500.⁴ He was arrested on March 16, 2021, and originally charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.⁵

The Victims

Alicia Ann Hereford was 52 and a career social worker. She spent her career with the Portsmouth Department of Social Services and most recently worked as a Child Protective Services Hotline Specialist with the Virginia Department of Social Services. In 2019 she had also worked at The Samaritan House, a domestic violence shelter.⁶ Her family asked that memorial donations go to HER Shelter, another domestic violence organization.⁷ Morgan Bonita Bazemore, 23, was Hereford’s daughter. Both women were later honored through the Silent Witness Project, which memorializes victims of domestic violence.

From Murder Charges to Manslaughter

The case was set for trial in March 2023. Days before a jury was to be seated, Jones signed a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to two reduced counts of voluntary manslaughter.⁸

Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi said the reduction came down to witnesses. Key eyewitnesses refused to testify despite efforts by police and prosecutors to secure their cooperation. Without their testimony, much of the prosecution’s evidence, including the dash-camera footage of the shooting, would have been inadmissible at trial.¹ Prosecutors also expected Jones to argue self-defense, pointing to the gun found in one victim’s handbag.³

Fatehi said: “The alternative in this case was not a longer sentence; it was very likely to be a dismissal for lack of evidence, and I could not permit Mr. Jones to walk free with no consequences.” He added: “Cases like these are why we need a witness protection program in Virginia.”¹ Fatehi later advocated successfully for Virginia’s first witness protection program.⁹

The Eight-Year Sentence

On July 14, 2023, Norfolk Circuit Court Judge David W. Lannetti sentenced Jones to eight active years in prison, with an additional 12 years suspended. The suspended time was conditioned on eight years of uniform good behavior, an indeterminate period of supervised probation, and no contact with the Bazemore family.¹ Voluntary manslaughter is a Class 5 felony in Virginia, carrying a sentencing range of one to ten years in prison.¹⁰ The eight-year active term was near the top of that range, though the original second-degree murder charges would have exposed Jones to substantially more prison time.

The victims’ family called the punishment inadequate. Monica Bazemore, Morgan’s aunt, told the judge, “There are criminals who get more time for drugs,” and called Jones a “monster” and a “coward.” A letter from Alicia Hereford’s mother, read aloud in court, said: “There is no day without sadness and no measurement to the depth of my pain… My sentence is the only sentence that time will truly be served for.”⁸

Harvey Hereford, Alicia’s husband and Morgan’s stepfather, told the court he had been misled until the day before the plea deal was signed and said his messages to Fatehi went unreturned. “The Commonwealth that she served … made no effort to prosecute her murder,” he said. The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office denied that his messages went unanswered.⁸

The $250,000 Found in Hereford’s Car

The criminal case produced an unusual side story. After the shooting, Detective J.C. Noel found approximately $250,000 in cash in the trunk of Alicia Hereford’s car and roughly $2,100 in counterfeit money in the back seat. Hereford had filed for bankruptcy twice, in 2000 and 2014, and court filings indicated she was deeply in debt.¹¹

Norfolk police held the money in their property and evidence unit. The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office looked into forfeiture but concluded there was no legal basis for it, because investigators could not establish the source of the funds or link them to a specific crime.¹¹ A June 2024 police affidavit cited a confidential informant who claimed the money was owed to Jones in connection with a “financial scheme,” but the allegation was never substantiated.¹² On March 7, 2025, a court ordered the funds distributed to Hereford’s son Marvin Bazemore Jr. and her husband Harvey Hereford, finding that authorities could not prove the money was tied to criminal activity.¹³

1
WTKR. Norfolk Man Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison for Killing a Mother and Daughter
2
The Virginian-Pilot. Norfolk Man Gets 8 Years for Killing Girlfriend and Her Mother During Domestic Dispute
3
City of Norfolk. Commonwealth v. Kenyatta F. Jones Sentencing
4
12 On Your Side. Police Search for Suspect in Shooting of Mother and Daughter
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WAVY. Man Accused of Shooting Mother, Daughter Arrested in Norfolk
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13News Now. Samaritan House Mourns Employee Killed in Norfolk
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Keith Matthews Funeral Home. Obituary for Alicia Chavis Hereford
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WAVY. Man Convicted of Killing Mother, Daughter in Norfolk Sentenced to Eight Years
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Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney. Priorities
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Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia, Title 18.2, Chapter 4, Article 1
11
The Virginian-Pilot. Norfolk Police Found $250,000 in Murder Victim’s Car. Her Family Is Fighting to Get It Back
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WAVY. Courts Distribute $250,000 to Norfolk Man, Then Sentence Him to Five Years in Prison
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The Virginian-Pilot. $250,000 in Norfolk Murder Victim’s Car Turned Over to Son