Murder suspect tried again, this time with girlfriend

Pictured: Destiny Monique Taylor(left), Ceonta Jamar Kellam(right).

By Linda Cicoira

A new murder trial for a Machipongo man will be merged with charges of being an accessory to murder and arson after the fact made against the suspect’s girlfriend.

Accomack Circuit Court Judge Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. granted the motion Thursday to join the two defendants in one trial as requested by the prosecutor. Commonwealth’s Attorney Spencer Morgan argued it was more economical to do that.

At the end of the second day of the first trial, three jurors were unable to continue to finish serving on the panel. Lewis declared a mistrial last October because there were fewer jurors than needed to render a verdict.

That trial was for 35-year-old Ceonta Jamar Kellam, of James Allen Drive, who pleaded not guilty to counts of 1st-degree murder, use of a firearm in a felony, arson of personal property worth more than $200, being a violent felon in possession of a gun, and destroying evidence of a felony. He faced the jury alone in the first proceeding.

At the next trial, which has not yet been scheduled, 26-year-old Destiny Monique Taylor, of New Church, will also be tried on counts of accessory after the fact of murder and of arson, and willfully concealing physical evidence of the crime.

Kellam is being held in Accomack Jail. Taylor is out on an unspecified bond.

The body of 30-year-old Warren Thomas Fosque III, formerly of Horntown, was found in the woods about 50 feet from his work truck in December 2024. The vehicle fire left only metal remaining in the middle of Green Hill Road in New Church. Fosque had been shot to death. Shell casings were found on the ground on the passenger side of the truck’s remains.

Patrick Bales, Kellam’s lawyer, and Kenneth Singleton, who represents Taylor, were both opposed to the joint trial.

Singleton argued that Taylor is not accused of murder. In addition, the lawyer said, she did not pressure witnesses. “My client was not in on those jail calls” that involved Kellam, he said. “If the jury hears (about) that, it would be highly prejudicial to her … Judicial economy is outweighed if there is … great prejudice towards her.”

Bales complained, “There will be evidence against her that would not be his … Once the skunk sprays the jury box, you’re not going to get the smell out,” he added.