Mother loses second of four sons to homicide

In one terrible instant last month, Quency Mosley lost a second son and Corey Mosley lost a second father to homicide. For the Mosleys, it was a tragedy all too familiar.

More than 14 years ago, David Warren Mosley, 25, was struck down by gunfire while sitting behind the wheel of his Jeep in Henrico County. Quency lost her second-eldest son, and Corey — then just 8 — lost his father. Police arrested three suspects within days of the Nov. 25, 1996, slaying.

Heartbreak revisited the family on Nov. 12, when James "Patrick" Mosley, 38, was fatally shot outside his Belfair town house in Chesterfield County as he was collecting groceries from his truck. Quency lost her youngest of four sons, and Corey — now 22 and a starting safety for University of Virginia football team — lost his uncle and father figure.

But unlike the 1996 killing, investigators this time around are stymied by a lack of leads or suspects. "Basically we got nothing," said Chesterfield police Lt. Chris Hensley.

The killing has been especially hard for Quency, 63, who moved in with her youngest son from a senior home and depended on him daily.

"My son Patrick did everything for me," said Quency, who is hobbled by two bad knees. "Maybe I depended on him too much, because now I don't know what I'm going to do."

Family members say the loss has been equally if not more difficult for Quency's grandson, Corey, who missed U.Va.'s two final games while coping with the death.

"Corey's really taking it hard now, because [Patrick] did a lot for him — trying to help him out at school," Quency Mosley said. "[Patrick] tried to go to all of his games that were in Charlottesville. And he tried to help him financially when he ran out of money. He was really dependent on Patrick because he was a father-figure to him."

Corey Mosley could not be reached for this story. Jim Daves, U.Va.'s assistant athletics director for media relations, said Corey needs time to deal with the loss before talking to the news media.

On the day he was killed, Patrick had made plans to travel to Charlottesville with his brother Mark to watch Corey play the next day in the Cavalier's game with Maryland. "They were supposed to walk across the field with Corey at the game," Quency said. "And he was looking forward to that."

Patrick, a father of four, came home from work that afternoon and cleaned up in preparation for his youngest son Shaquille's high school football game that evening. Patrick and an older son, Tyquan, watched Shaquille play and, afterward, they all stopped by Burger King for a bite to eat.

After dropping Shaquille and Tyquan at their mother's house, Patrick stopped at a grocery store to buy a few items and headed home. He arrived about 11:40 p.m. and parked his burgundy Toyota pickup near his town house in the 3900 block of Bridget Court.

Police believe he almost immediately was accosted by two people after he got out of his truck and prepared to take the groceries to the house.

Quency Mosley was in the rear of the town house that evening when someone knocked on the front door. No one was there when she answered, but she did spot Patrick's trucked parked outside. She figured he was securing it for the night before coming inside.

"A car sped off as I was looking out there," Quency Mosley recalled.

She closed the door and settled back inside when someone again banged on the front door. When she answered this time, a woman who identified herself as a neighbor was crying hysterically, alerting Quency that someone had been shot. She soon realized it was her son.

Alarmed, Quency said she quickly called her son Mark and his wife, who live six doors away. "I couldn't even get out there because of my bad knees," she said. "I couldn't get to him."

Within moments, Quency's heart sank as she heard the screams of emergency sirens converge on her neighborhood. "Everything was just breaking loose," she said.

Soon after they arrived, police found Patrick Mosley mortally wounded lying near his truck. He died at the scene of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, according to the state medical examiner's office.

"It was just really, really terrible, because I just couldn't believe that anybody would shoot him," she said. "Patrick never bothered anyone. He was always smiling to people and easy going."

Although police are still puzzling over a motive, they speculate Mosley — a maintenance supervisor for ChemTreat Inc. in Ashland — was shot during a robbery that went awry.

"We have some witnesses that saw a couple of people running away," Lt. Hensley said. "It looks like a robbery, and we think it went down pretty quick before anything was taken. It looks like things went bad quickly, and they got out of there."

Coincidentally, robbery was the motive in killing of Quency's other son in 1996. Three young men, ages 16, 18 and 19, were convicted of conspiring to rob and kill David Mosley near the Highland Springs Golf Course.

Based on the plea-bargained testimony of one of the defendants, a Henrico prosecutor said at the time that the three teens hatched a plot to kill and rob Mosley because they thought he was gay, or because they wanted to rob him, or both.

"I cannot figure out why this bizarre plot was put in action," Henrico Judge George F. Tidey said at one of the defendant's trial in 1997. "It makes no sense."

Now, Quency must deal with a second son's senseless killing.

"I have no idea what could have happened," she said, pleading for anyone with information to come forward. "Sometimes now, I just can't believe it happened."

Anyone with information about the killing can call Chesterfield police at (804) 748-1251 or Chesterfield/Colonial Heights Crime Solvers at (804) 749-0660.

mbowes@timesdispatch.com

(804) 649-6450