Not-guilty pleas in Williams case

Published 8:25 pm Thursday, July 16, 2015

All three defendants in a Jan. 20 murder case have now pleaded not guilty and are set for a jury trial together starting Dec. 14.

Kyle Lamar Purvis, 21, of Portsmouth, entered his plea Thursday in Suffolk Circuit Court. Tremayne L. Johnson, 25, of Suffolk, and Nathaniel C. McCoy Jr., 21, pleaded not guilty July 6.

The three are accused in the killing of Donta L. Williams, 20, of Portsmouth. His body was found in the lake at Lake View Technology Park, the Department of Defense complex off College Drive in North Suffolk.

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According to court documents and testimony, all three told investigators in separate interviews they attacked Williams on the bridge crossing the lake. They allegedly struck him multiple times with a hammer and choked him before pushing his body into the water.

A Department of Defense employee spotted the body on March 9, almost seven weeks after Williams went missing. Nine days later, Suffolk police announced the identity of the body and two of the arrests. McCoy was arrested later in Michigan.