UPDATE, Sunday – 12/30/2012, 10:02am ET – Fairfax County police are investigating the possibility that robbery was the motive in this case. Stringfellow and Bonilla did not know each other, but they had arranged some kind of meeting Friday night.
Stringfellow was a sophomore at Ferrum College in southwestern Virginia where he played defensive end.
On his Facebook page, his sister calls Zavier her best friend who got along with everyone.
EARLIER, Sunday – 12/30/2012, 12:40am ET – Saturday afternoon police and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested 22-year old Johnny Bonilla in Gainesville and charged him with the murder of 19-year old Zavier Stringfellow, Fairfax County Police report.
Stringfellow, who lived in the Manassas area, was found in a minivan that had crashed into a barrier at the end of a service road. However, it wasn’t the crash that killed him.
Police say the suspect and the victim met for the first time on Friday night. There was a struggle and Stringfellow was stabbed.
WASHINGTON – Fairfax County police are treating the death of a Manassas teen found inside a minivan Friday evening as a homicide.
An autopsy determined that Zavier O. Stringfellow, 19, of Gales Court, died of a trauma wound to his upper body, according to police.
Police considered Stringfellow’s death “suspicious” after he was found about 7 p.m. Friday with injuries that may not have stemmed from a crash. The minivan had crashed into a barrier at the end of a service road off Chain Bridge Road near Glengyle Drive in Vienna.
Police continue to investigate and ask that anyone with information about Stringfellow’s killing is asked to contact Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477) or by text “TIP187” then type your message to CRIMES/274637 or call Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131.
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