The two fugitives from North Carolina being sought in a Nelson County shooting are now in police custody.
Shortly after 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Sean D. Castorina and Penny M. Dawson were apprehended by the Fergus Falls, Minn., Police Department. The two were arrested without incident at a gas station within that jurisdiction.
The two will be extradited back to Virginia to face charges of malicious wounding, use of a firearm and grand larceny of a vehicle.
During the past two days, the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Appomattox Field Office, the Nelson County, Va., Sheriff’s Office, Burlington, N.C., Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service have been actively pursuing leads and searching for the couple.
The incident began Aug. 19, 2017, when the Burlington, N.C. Police Department received a report of a missing person. Mr. Harold Dean Simpson, 84, was last seen by his family at 10:30 a.m., on Friday, Aug. 18, 2017. Mr. Simpson’s silver 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt was located by the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office at 6:48 p.m., on Monday, Aug. 21. The vehicle, with North Carolina license plate EMA 8936, had been abandoned on Laurel Road in eastern Nelson County.
During the course of the investigation into the abandoned vehicle, the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call at approximately 7:30 p.m., Tuesday (Aug. 22) about a shooting victim at a residence on Laurel Road near Rockfish River. When law enforcement arrived on scene, they found a 60-year-old female suffering from a gunshot wound. She continues to be treated at UVA Hospital in Charlottesville, Va., for serious injuries.
After the shooting, Castorina and Dawson fled the residence in a 2002 Dodge Dakota that belonged to the owner of the residence. The two were still driving the stolen pickup truck when apprehended in Minnesota.
The search continues for Simpson. Anyone with information related to Simpson’s disappearance is asked to still please contact the Burlington, N.C., Police or call 911 or, in Virginia, call #77 on a cell phone.
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Chris Graham
