Justine Swartz Abshire

Orange County Commonwealth's Attorney Diana Wheeler, flanked by Virginia State Police special agents Mike Jones, left, and Dennis Dodson, right, smiles outside the courthouse following the first-degree murder conviction of Eric Dee Abshire.

'110 percent sure': Jurors say no doubt in Abshire's guilt

"There's a verdict!" The cry at the Orange County Circuit Court at around 4:20pm on Tuesday, October 25 brought family and friends of the late Justine Swartz Abshire racing up to the third floor courtroom, terrified that they'd hear an acquittal after the jury deliberated l

Jury: He did it. Abshire murder trial

As the jury weighed its decision in the first-degree murder trial of the Greene County dump truck driver accused of killing his wife for a $1.5 million in insurance payout in a crime so shabbily staged that veteran investigators suspected his involvement within hours of her

Day 7: What the jury won't hear

Following early morning testimony from a handwriting expert who concluded that Eric Abshire forged his then-fiancée's signature on a million-dollar vehicle insurance policy, day seven of the first-degree murder trial was more about testimony the jury won't be allowed to he

Day six: All about the money

Did Eric Abshire know he stood to collect $1.5 million if his wife died in a hit and run, and did he attempt to collect that money? Those questions were the subject of testimony on Wednesday, October 19, as the prosecution in the first-degree murder trial of the incarcerate

Day five: Abshire expressed marriage regret

Speaking in a soft– at times shaking– voice, Eric Abshire's high school sweetheart, Allison Crawford, testified unwillingly today and revealed that on the night of Justine's death, Abshire, with whom Crawford has two daughters, said he still had feelings for her

Day three: Prosecution suggests strangulation

In addition to dozens of abrasions, bruises, and broken bones, Justine Elizabeth Abshire suffered another type of injury before her death, a medical examiner testified today. "These findings are what you find in manual strangulation," said Dr. Todd Luckasevik, a former Fair

The focus on Thursday was on what investigators didn't find at the scene.

Day two: Trial opens with gruesome details, timeline emphasis

A shoe, two gold earrings, and a cell phone were among the items found along Taylorsville Road near the lifeless body of kindergarten teacher and 1997 Western Albemarle High School graduate Justine Elizabeth Abshire, but while investigators measured fabric "drag marks" stre

Eric Abshire appeared in Orange County Circuit Court on Thursday, October 6 for a pretrial hearing. His first-degree murder trial starts October 12.

'Women and money': Prosecutors suggest motives in Abshire pretrial hearing

If Eric Abshire were a grieving widower, he had a strange way of showing it. According to information presented by prosecutors Thursday, between the death and burial of his wife, the Orange County man had sex with one woman, and he flashed a topless photo of another woman m

Abshire will remain behind bars until his October 12 trial in Orange.

Trial set: Eric Abshire pleads not guilty to wife killing

The Greene County man accused of killing his wife and staging her death as an automotive hit-and-run pleaded not guilty to first degree murder at his arraignment Thursday, March 3 in Orange County Circuit Court. Thirty-six-year-old Eric Dee Abshire, who has been incarcerate

History of strangulation? Abshire denied bond after allegations of violent past

Although his court-appointed attorney argued that his client poses neither flight risk nor danger to the community, accused wife-killer Eric Abshire will remain behind bars without bond, a judge ordered Thursday morning. The decision came after the prosecution asserted that