Convicted Murder Charged With Jailhouse Assault

By Linda Cicoira
Zachary Isaiah Townsend, a convicted murderer who was sentenced in July in Accomack Circuit Court to 48 years in prison, will go before a district court judge in Northampton for assault and battery of an Eastern Shore Regional Jail inmate.
Referred to as a remorseless killer by the prosecutor, Townsend, of Greta Road in Atlantic, was 17 when he committed murder, robbery, and related gun offenses over a $20 drug deal gone wrong. He was charged in October with the Sept. 20 assault and battery of Jordan Lewis Sterling. Both are being held in the Eastville jail.
Sterling, 34, of Seaside Road in Exmore, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but a year suspended for abducting his girlfriend on Sept. 24, 2017. He was also sentenced to a year in jail for assault and battery of a family member.
Lt. Michelle Hallett of the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office investigated the recent charge against Townsend.
In another case, Thomas Anthony Conklin, 20, with addresses of Monroe Avenue in Exmore and Widgeon Lane in Machipongo, was charged with rape and sodomy in connection with a Sept. 6, 2017, incident. The crimes were described as being “accomplished through the use of the victim’s mental incapacity or physical helplessness.” Conklin is being held without bond. Chief A.P. Dimartino, of the Exmore Police Department (EPD), investigated.
Tamekia Nakesha Davis, 28, of Savagetown Road in Painter, was charged with embezzling merchandise having a value of $500 or more from Food Lion on July 15. She was arrested Nov. 20. An unsecured bond was set at $2,000. Sgt. A.T. Zieger, of EPD, investigated.