PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — The investigation into the death of 27-year-old Johnathan Outland from Isle of Wight County is raising new questions. 

So much so, Portsmouth police have reopened the investigation into what was considered a suicide.

Outland was the father of three. And on September 16, 2023, he was shot on Avondale Road in Portsmouth. He would later die at the hospital.  

A friend with him claims it was a suicide, a self-inflicted gunshot, in a game of Russian roulette. 

Outland’s family does not buy that, and two private investigators say it was murder. 

Body camera video from that day shows Johnathan Outland shot and crumpled on the floor. He was still breathing, but he would later die. 

10 On Your Side gathered with Johnathan’s family, which includes his three children. 

“I wake up every day, my heart goes right to him. I am just trying to find answers,” said his mother Dee Colontuono, crying through the words.

One of his three children, 8-year-old Levi, is holding his “Daddy Johnathan” pillow. 

“He always pushed me on, on the swing set. He even swam with me … I miss him.” 

Johnathan’s grandfather is Scooter Brickhouse, with whom he hunted since he was a little boy. There are over a dozen deer heads, trophies of the past.

“My grandson did not kill himself. My grandson had a wonderful life … he was more like a son … he was with me all the time.” 

Johnathan’s death was ruled a suicide, but the family is adamant he did not kill himself. They believe he was murdered. 

“This particular case now looks like it was staged,” says Suzanne Sequeira, a forensic technician of 11 years.

Suzanne and her husband Carl have 54 years of total law enforcement experience, 11 for her as a forensic technician and 43 for him as an investigator. Both have previously worked with the Portsmouth Police Department. 

The Sequeiras have investigated hundreds of suicides, and are convinced a drug deal gone bad led to this shooting.  

They are friends of the family, and exhaustively investigated Johnathan’s death.

“His gun could not have gotten there from a suicide,” Suzanne said as she was looking at a picture of Johnathan’s body with his arm outstretched, and the gun a couple of feet from his outstretched hand.

She concluded that someone from behind put an arm around Johnathan’s neck before shooting into the right side of head.

The firearm was clearly out of Johnathan’s reach, she emphasized.

“Once he shot himself in the head, the gun would have fallen to his side. If you look, the vertical blood drops that form a “J” are from something standing directly above. Dropping blood straight down.” 

10 On Your Side sat down with Portsmouth Police Chief Stephen Jenkins. He, Carl, and Suzanne all worked together on the Portsmouth police force.

“I think we could have overall done a better job. There are parts of this investigation like the collection of evidence…,” Jenkins said. “Yes, I still believe it was suicide … when firearms fall from people’s hands, they do funny things. I had one where a person was in the house by himself, he dropped a gun, and it bounced, and it ended up on the other side of the room.” 

The Sequeiras do not buy that.

“There is no way that gun could have been used in a suicide, or even if it were a homicide because it is a close contact wound, it would still have material on it. So, we believe that the firearm, which was Johnathan’s gun, either was not the firearm that was used, or the firearm’s been cleaned.” 

The Sequeiras are also shocked by what they call the contamination of the crime scene. The point out an officer who was wearing a white glove picked up the gun and then put it on a counter. 

The video shows the officer on scene wearing white gloves moving the gun. He picks up the gun and takes it into the kitchen. 

“Look at the glove. It is completely white … it is clear of any bloody material,” Suzanne said.

Chief Jenkins admits moving the gun was a mistake.

“We acknowledge he should not have done that,” Jenkins said.

10 On Your Side asked if the gun had been moved to the position where it was originally found. 

“It is possible. It is a question that we continue to ask. We always preach scene security.”  

Another point: there is no high velocity blood spatter on the wall where Johnathan lay. There does not appear to be spatter anywhere.  

Is it possible someone behind Johnathan blocked the blood spatter from hitting the wall, ending up on the clothes?

“It is possible, I had not thought of that … if this were a suicide there should have been a high spatter velocity,” Suzanne says. “Suicides should have the gun within the subject’s reach … the suicide firearm would have blood and brain matter and that type of thing on the weapon. We do not have any of that. None.” 

They also discovered that possible bloody clothes from someone who may have shot Johnathan may have been stashed in a pickup truck behind the house, along with other evidence. But we will never know because Portsmouth police on scene failed to search the truck that night and never took it as evidence, even after being given permission by the vehicle owner to do so.  

Johnathan’s friend, who was himself acting and speaking erratically on bodycam video, kept telling police to “search my vehicle … search my vehicle.” 

Suzanne also points out he ran three times back and forth to the vehicle.

“He was potentially hiding evidence and helping with the cleanup of the scene. We think there are three conspirators in the house.” 

10 On Your Side knows the names of those at the house, but we are not reporting them because no one has been charged. We also reached out to them individually, but the numbers are disconnected, no longer in service.

We also have chosen not to identify by name the police officers and detectives who are seen on video. 

Carl and Suzanne think the friend was telling the police to check his pickup truck knowing what they would find, but did not want to appear as a snitch in front of two others on the front lawn after the police showed up.

Carl says: “He didn’t want to be a snitch … so he just told the officers to check the truck. The friend is telling police the truck is in the back yard. That is all they had to do, and he tells the police, check my truck. Check my truck.” 

Suzanne said that the other two people in the house at the time claim they were in the bathroom with the shower running when the shot that killed Johnathan was fired.  

“They heard a shot, and one of those in the bathroom claim he saw Johnathan sliding down the wall … but we believe the stories told are all over the place, and don’t add up.” 

The friend is heard, and Suzanne says: “He kept telling the police to check my truck. Check my truck. Forensics will prove what happened, and who shot Johnathan.”

10 On Your Side looked through police bodycam video. We heard officer ask the friend, who was sitting in a patrol car, when referring to Johnathan.

“Did he shoot himself?” 

The friend answered: “Yes.”  

The words Russian Roulette were also brought up.

“Yes, he said that, but who was he referring to, he never says,” Suzanne said. “Who was the ‘he’? We believe the ‘he’ is the other person in the house who shot Johnathan.” 

The friend also said the word “Russian,” suggesting Johnathan shot himself while engaged in Russian roulette. 

There are six cartridges in the Smith and Wesson .38 caliber revolver. There was only one cartridge casing left in the chamber of Johnathan’s gun. Four other cartridges were found on a bed. The bed is in the same room where Johnathan was shot.

The friend is also heard telling the officer,

“I saw him take out the bullets.”

One bullet is presumed missing because people usually carry a fully loaded gun, and the bullet that went through Johnathan’s head was never found in the house.  

10 On Your Side asked Chief Jenkins about these issues, including the failure to check the pickup truck, 

“Chief, should that truck have been checked?” 10 On Your Side’s Andy Fox asked.

Jenkins answered: “yes…we should check everything possible to make sure that we check all the boxes to answer all the questions.” 

Amazingly, the bullet that would kill Outland was never recovered.  

Chief Jenkins wishes that the bullet were found, and he cannot explain where the bullet is. 

Suzanne adds: “They did not make any attempts to recover the bullet. It was not dug out. A detective said that the bullet hit the wall and evaporated.” 

“That is not something we are looking into to answer based on contact wound that is consistent with the muzzle of that firearm,” Chief Jenkins said about not finding the bullet. “That would answer that question for me, on how Johnathan was shot … he shot himself.” 

Police bodycam also shows a shell casing found on the next-door neighbor’s driveway, 

An officer is heard saying: “Hey what’s this … I wonder if this is involved?” 

The shell casing was never taken as evidence,  

10 On Your Side asked the chief why not? 

“I cannot answer that,” he said.

The fact is Chief Jenkins cannot answer some critical questions, but wants to be transparent, and show responsibility for what may or may not have happened during this investigation. 

Suzanne calls it a botched investigation.

“We cannot even tell the caliber of the gun used because we cannot find a bullet. We need the bullet to link the gun to Johnathan’s shooting. So absolutely this was a botch in this investigation.” 

The chief counters: “I disagree. That is the Sequeiras’ analysis. I think that some parts of the investigation with the detective, they took advantage of a personal relationship, but nevertheless, I think all intents and purposes the information and the evidence, the way it was gathered, was in our tradition of investigating, that this was a suicide, and I have investigated many suicides myself.” 

We asked the Chief whether unanswered questions, and any perceived failures in the investigation is the reason he has reopened the Johnathan Outland death.

He responded: “Yes, sir. I want to answer all the questions and provide answers for the family … my heart goes out that family, to their friends, and so I want to make sure we did everything possible to be able to answer all the open questions.” 

We also asked Jenkins about missing vital written witness statements on what happened. We asked him: should you be able to say where those witness statements are? 

“Yes, sir. Absolutely. Yes, sir,” Jenkins said.

We asked Jenkins if it has been explained to him where they are. 

“I’m working to find that out right now. Again, this is why this investigation remains open. Because again, I have questions.” 

The Sequeiras also looked at Johnathan’s hands which they claim had no blood on them, 

“He had small amounts of gunshot residue. That can be there just by being near the gun when it was fired … but he didn’t shoot himself. Somebody shot him, absolutely,” Suzanne told us.

For now, a family looks for answers.

“There are days when I’m focused on finding out what happened to him. He deserves the justice for his kids,” Colontuono said.

And so does the Portsmouth police chief.

“I don’t know that us reopening the investigation will change the outcome … but I do want to make sure we are able to answer as many of the questions that we possibly can in this.”