In this episode of Crime Watch Daily Updates: Vivian Chavis endured something so unbearable, so painful, and so unfathomable that most of us couldn’t even begin to imagine. One morning in April 2014, four generations of one family were massacred and their house burned to the ground.
Vivian returned to her Petersburg, Virginia, home in the early hours of April 19, 2014, and saw it ablaze. But little did she know what tragedy had already occurred inside.
Before Vivian got back, a woman had called 911 at 3:31 a.m. after a man had entered her home and beat her grandmother. The call dropped, and Petersburg Police dispatch tried calling back several times until someone answered, but the dispatcher only heard screams. Police arrived within minutes but couldn’t get inside because of heavy smoke pouring out from the house. As police looked for ways to get in, one officer reportedly found a bloody knife on a back porch area.
Firefighters eventually made their way inside the home and found four people dead. They were identified as 67-year-old Pauline Wilkins, her 46-year-old daughter, Vicki Chavis Ansar, Vicki’s 22-year-old daughter Tanique Davis, and Tanique’s son, 2-year-old Delvari Chavis. Pauline and Vicki were stabbed to death while Delvari and Tanique suffered from smoke inhalation. Investigators later learned Tanique was the one who called 911.
In the days leading up to the killings, Vivian reportedly received numerous threatening phone calls from her ex-boyfriend, Alexander Hill, who allegedly told her he would “kill her and everyone she loved.”
Police identified Alexander as a person of interest in the quadruple homicide, and then named him as a suspect. A manhunt ensued for a year until he was finally captured at a homeless shelter in Buffalo, New York. He was extradited back to Virginia, and in 2017, went to trial. A jury found him guilty, and a judge handed him two life sentences in prison.
Alexander died September 1, 2018, from a pulmonary embolism while serving his term. He was 52 years old.
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