Angel Whitaker’s relatives said they became worried after daily contact stopped in mid-April.
BRISTOL, Va. — Angel Whitaker’s family said they were used to hearing from her often, so when days passed without contact after her move to West Virginia, her sister went to police and reported her missing.
That May 4 missing person report led investigators from Bristol to Bluefield, West Virginia, and later to a wooded area near Bastian, Virginia. Donald Ray Pennington, 59, the man relatives said had offered Whitaker an assistant manager job before she relocated, is charged with second-degree murder and concealment of a deceased human body. He has pleaded not guilty.
For Whitaker’s family, the silence stood out first. Relatives told police they had not heard from her since April 14, according to reports citing investigators. They said daily communication was normal. Whitaker had moved in January 2026 from Bristol, a city on the Virginia-Tennessee border, to Bluefield after Pennington offered her work. The two had known each other from an O’Reilly Auto Parts store in Bristol, where Whitaker had worked and where Pennington had been connected through his job. Family members later told police she had been struggling financially before the move, making the promise of an assistant manager role important.
The family’s concern grew because the move had also placed Whitaker in Pennington’s home. Reports citing court records say their relationship became strained by April. Whitaker’s sister told police that Whitaker had stayed at a Quality Inn earlier that month because she was afraid to return to the residence she shared with Pennington. Another man who exchanged messages with Whitaker told investigators she had called him crying about the living situation and described Pennington as jealous and controlling. Those accounts gave police an early picture of fear and conflict before they had located Whitaker.
Investigators then used records to test what witnesses were saying. They reviewed Facebook messages, surveillance footage and cellphone-related data, according to reports. Messages attributed to Whitaker said she needed to get away and feared the situation would become bad if she stayed. Pennington, according to investigators, later said he last saw Whitaker on April 17 after she came to work intoxicated. He claimed he drove her back to their Thorn Street residence in Bluefield, left again for work and later found her gone. Police have not publicly released every statement he gave, and his defense has not been fully presented in court.
Eight days after the missing report, Pennington’s ex-girlfriend came forward with a statement that changed the case. She went to the Bluefield Police Department on May 12 and told investigators, “You’re not going to find her, he murdered her,” according to reports citing the complaint. She said Pennington had called her about repeated arguments with Whitaker and later admitted he killed her. The ex-girlfriend said Pennington claimed Whitaker had threatened him, that he “snapped” and that he choked her until she stopped breathing. She also told police Pennington showed her a photograph taken on Whitaker’s phone.
The same witness gave investigators a possible route to Whitaker’s body. She said Pennington destroyed Whitaker’s phones by soaking one in bleach and removing SIM cards, then wrapped the body and stored it before moving it. She told police she later joined him on a trip to buy concrete at Lowe’s in Bluefield, Virginia, and then drove with him toward a wooded area off Round Mountain Road near Bastian. Investigators said surveillance video and Life360 data supported parts of her account. She also told police she had deleted messages from Pennington about the alleged killing before turning over her phone.
Deputies searching the Bastian area found items that investigators connected to the case. Reports say they saw concrete, plastic sheeting, rope, a quilt, fabric believed to be women’s clothing, water jugs and rocks arranged near a suspected burial spot. Human remains were found about a quarter-mile into the woods. Investigators said the remains were decomposed and partially skeletonized, and they reported seeing red hair and a ring. They also found bear tracks and said animals may have moved the body. Authorities said an autopsy was being conducted, but complete findings had not been released in the early public reports.
Whitaker’s children then faced the public grief of a homicide case and the private costs of burying their mother. Her son Braiden Cross started a fundraiser for funeral expenses and wrote that the family had received “heartbreaking news” after she had been missing for about a month. He said he and his siblings were young and could not afford the funeral costs alone. Reports say Whitaker also left a 17-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son. The family’s words focused on trust, loss and the shock of learning that a move tied to work had ended in death.
Prosecutors will have to connect the missing person timeline, witness statements, digital records, physical evidence and autopsy findings in court. Pennington was taken into custody after he arrived for questioning and requested an attorney following a Miranda warning, investigators said. He was booked May 13 and remains charged in West Virginia. The case’s next public markers are expected to include additional court dates, forensic reports and any defense challenges to the statements and evidence described by investigators.
Author note: Last updated June 18, 2026.