COURTLAND, Va. (WAVY) — The murder trial of James Goodwyn, Jr. is underway in Southampton County Circuit Court. He faces one count of first-degree murder in the 2019 death of Cynthia Carver of Newsoms.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Cooke admonished the jurors to be prepared to see graphic images that were gathered as evidence from both Carver‘s home and a swampy area in the southern region of Suffolk, where her body was recovered.
In her opening statement Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Toni Colvin told the jurors that Carver‘s home on Everett Street in Newsoms had blood in almost every room.
Colvin said Goodwyn, who is now 44, dumped Carver like trash. Covin added the evidence of Goodwin and Carver’s cell phone records will show both of their phones took a backroads route from Carver‘s home to a swamp in Suffolk.
Carver had stab wounds on both sides of her neck, under her jaw, to her chest and her vaginal area.
She was last seen when she dropped her children off with a babysitter around 9 p.m. She was scheduled to report to her new job as a corrections officer at the Deerfield Correctional Center the next morning, but she never showed up for work.
In June 2019, police arrested Goodwyn and charged him with murder in the death of Carver, a mother of two.
Goodwyn’s defense attorney James Ellenson told the jurors not to make up their mind, and that the Commonwealth’s opening statement is not evidence. Ellenson said that DNA potentially matching Goodwyn was found under one of Carver‘s fingernails, but so was the DNA of another man.
Colvin mentioned other evidence that included a knife, several blood stains and drag marks in Carver‘s home.
The case is expected to last at least until the middle of next week, and the prosecution will need the remainder of this week to get through all of its witnesses, which a total of more than 36.
