NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — 10 On Your Side has acquired newly submitted paperwork in a Newport News murder investigation.
The documents show the urgency police have in gaining access to phone records and social media accounts for Adrian Lewis and his wife Shanita Eure-Lewis.
Shanita’s body remains missing, and Adrian is charged with first-degree murder in her presumed death.
The new documents ask the court to fast-track permission for access to Apple and Google records. A judge will decide if Apple and Google should be ordered to comply with the request.
The most important facts of danger state the two had an argument early Sunday regarding their marriage, and Shanita quickly left church service at Gethsemane Baptist Church.
Shanita’s sister contacted Adrian by text and he told her Shanita had “jumped out of his pickup” and that she is no longer with him, and on the run at Jefferson Avenue and Harpersville Road.
“The sister of Ms. Eure-Lewis may in fact have been texting with Mr. Lewis who she later found out was in possession of Ms. Eure-Lewis’ cell phone,” Newport News Police Chief Drew stated during a press conference about the case.
Later, the sister confronted Mr. Lewis at a trash dumpster up the street from their home where the sister saw Adrian with a shovel with dirt on it.
That information is vital because police have yet to find a body and they need the Apple phone records to further establish the timeline putting Adrian at the point of her death if he was there.
In the documents, police write about immediate danger, although police know Shanita is likely dead, hence the first-degree murder charge.
“She was last seen with her husband in his Chevy Silverado pick-up truck having an argument as their children watched them leave the residence,” the documents stated.
Police think Shanita is already dead when Shanita’s sister saw Adrian at the dumpster up the street from their home.
Police issued search warrants for Adrian and Shanita’s home, and for Adrian’s pick-up truck found in the Relax Inn parking lot that had lots of blood in it.
“There was blood inside the vehicle, spent shell casings recovered on the outside of the vehicle,” said Chief Drew.
However, the search warrants have been sealed.
10 On Your Side out to the Newport News Circuit Court Clerk regarding what happens next in this process, but our call was not returned.
Adrian Lewis has not yet been extradited and remains in Loudon County. His preliminary hearing is set for September 23.