CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — A man was sentenced to 67 years in prison Tuesday after being found guilty of the 2021 murder of a 61-year-old woman in Chesapeake.

Raheem Lamont Cherry, 22, had been convicted April 12, 2024 of first-degree murder, robbery, abduction and illegal concealment of Laura Mills. Tuesday, in addition to the 67 years he will serve in prison, Cherry had an additional 41 years suspended on condition of supervised good behavior when he is released, which is expected to come when he is 89-years-old.

“It was a fair sentence,” said Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney D.J. Hansen. “You know, the Commonwealth asked for a life sentence, but that’s up to the judge.”

Hansen believes fingerprints left behind did Cherry in.

“His fingerprints were all over the car and on the face plate of her cell phone that was found inside the car,” Hansen said. “So that’s a very difficult thing for him to explain.”

Hansen also thinks about Laura’s husband, Jack, who was on the phone with his wife when the attack began in May 2021.

NOTE: Above video is from previous coverage on the case

According to evidence from the trial, around 5 a.m. on May 17, 2021, Mills, who lived in a company apartment in Western Branch, was on the phone with her husband, who lived in upstate New York, when he heard a loud scream followed by the line going dead. After receiving several strange texts from his wife, the husband then contacted Chesapeake authorities, leading to a search.

“At the time, the only thing he heard was her scream and then the phone went dead,” Hansen said, “and then he started receiving text messages, and that he was very frantic as he testified, because he did not understand these text messages that he was getting.”  

Chopper 10 in May 2021 showed the search crews out looking for Laura Mills’ body, and sadly, the car Cherry was in was captured on video behind the Taylor Bend YMCA. 

“They were tracking her cell phone, and her cell phone indicated that she had been to the wooded area behind the YMCA,” Hansen said, “and they searched for her, and later that afternoon, they found her body in a ditch covered with leaves.”  

Miles’ body was discovered later in the afternoon in a ditch covered by leaves near the Taylor Bend YMCA. Evidence shows that Miles was stabbed over 11 times in the upper body, with a fatal wound to the spine.

Cherry became a suspect after his fingerprints were found on Miles’ truck and on her phone, which was in the center console of her truck nearby Miles’ apartment.

At first, Cherry denied any involvement in the murder, but later retracted his statement and testified that a stranger committed the crime and forced him to help.

“He testified on his behalf that there was another person involved,” Hansen said, “but we were never able to find any evidence of any other perpetrator.”

On April 12, 2024, it took the jury around three hours to convict Cherry on all charges.

While at the sentencing hearing, Miles’ husband and daughter testified on the profound negative impact that Miles’ death had on the family. Miles’ husband, along with Cherry, declined comment on the outcome of the case.

It was a brutal crime, and Hansen thinks justice was served.

“Her husband and her daughter testified to the terrible effects it had on them,” Hansen said, “particularly the fact that they knew she was gone all day and they had no idea what had happened to her.”