An Albemarle County grand jury has indicted two men for last year’s killing of 34-year-old Joshua Lamont Jones.
Court records show that a trio of sealed charges, including first-degree murder, were lodged on Oct. 7 against Taquarius Orlando Catoe-Anderson and Torius Jihad Price, both 22, for conspiring to kill Jones at an Albemarle County apartment complex.
The killing took place outdoors on Timberland Lane in a complex called Timberland Park Apartments on the evening of Feb. 21, 2023. Jones was struck by gunfire, according to a county statement, and died of his injuries at University of Virginia Medical Center.
A search warrant served on an apartment in the complex the following day turned up little more than a box of .40 ammunition, according to one court document. However, a county spokeswoman indicated, in response to a request from The Daily Progress earlier this year, that the investigation was ongoing.
“We welcome the public’s assistance on information that could lead to an arrest so that we can bring closure to this case,” Logan Bogert told The Daily Progress by email in June.
The two men charged with killing Jones have each been charged with first-degree murder, felony conspiracy and use of a firearm in commission of a felony, according to the indictments which were unsealed Wednesday. The most serious charge could bring a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Local court records show that both Catoe-Anderson and Price had prior convictions and pending criminal cases.
In May, Catoe-Anderson received a 180-day sentence on a concealed carry charge for shooting two men in a Ford Crown Victoria in the city’s 10th & Page neighborhood in the fall of 2022. At time of his most recent arrest, Catoe-Anderson was facing of second concealed-carry offense as well as a distribution of marijuana charge in Albemarle.
Likewise, Price is no stranger to the local courts. He was once accused of using a gun’s laser sight to harass the mother of a shooting suspect, a case that ended in an acquittal in May of last year. Earlier this year, Price was facing drug and gun charges that were dropped on the morning of trial, and he was subsequently charged in Charlottesville with making a written threat, but that charge was dismissed in June.
Price has two pending felony charges of drug distribution in Albemarle and one in Fairfax County plus an additional charge of having a firearm while possessing a controlled substance.
The complex where Jones was shot is located off Old Lynchburg Road near Interstate 64 and adjacent to the Cavalier Crossing apartment complex where, police said, a juvenile was shot and injured amid a botched drug deal one week prior to the death of Jones.
Court records show that Catoe-Anderson has a hearing slated for Thursday in Albemarle Circuit Court to appoint an attorney to defend him in the killing. As for Price, who was already jailed on his pending drug charges, no court date on the murder charge has yet appeared in the court records.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com