Lawyer says client was not at scene

The lawyer for a woman described as a person of interest in the New Year's Eve death of a rival said yesterday that the woman was not present at the slaying scene.

"She has told me that she was not there at that apartment," lawyer Dennis Martin said yesterday after a Henrico County judge set a $25,000 bond on burglary and vandalism charges against Kayla C. Armstrong, 25.

Martin said he expects that Armstrong will be released in coming days if he can gain bond terms on another charge pending in juvenile court.

Few other details relative to the death of Keiona Cecilia Tiree Braxton, 26, emerged yesterday. Henrico police have not made an arrest in the case.

Braxton and her boyfriend, Kenneth Lee, had both obtained protection orders against Armstrong, who has a child by Lee.

Police have identified Armstrong as a person of interest in Braxton's death; court records show a longstanding rivalry between the two women. Lee shared an apartment with Braxton in the 5700 block of Crenshaw Road, where Braxton's body was found by firefighters on New Year's Eve. When she died, Braxton was pregnant with Lee's baby, according to her family.

-- Bill McKelway