RICHMOND – King and Queen County Commonwealth’s Attorney Meredith Adkins and Virginia State Police are announcing a break in a nearly 33-year-old cold case. On Oct. 10, 2024, Virginia State Police agents arrested Ives T. Fortune, 62, of Tappahannock, Va., following a grand jury indictment for rape and malicious wounding of Jennie Lee Johnson, 46, of King and Queen County.
Johnson was last seen alive on Nov. 22, 1991, leaving the residence of a friend. Johnson never returned home. Her body was found the following day (Nov. 23, 1991), in a field near Newtown Road. The Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) Richmond Field Office has been investigating the homicide since her discovery.
The break in the case came through the hard work of agents assigned to the BCI Richmond Field Office and analysts assigned to the Criminal Intelligence Division’s Unsolved Violent Crimes and Cold Cases Analytical Support Team. The analysts assigned to this investigation and the retesting of evidence were funded by the Virginia Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), led by the Office of the Attorney General Jason S. Miyares. The retesting of evidence was completed by DNA Labs International in Deerfield, FL.
“I am proud of the dedication and the hours agents and analysts put into this case and every case,” said Colonel Gary T. Settle, Superintendent of the Virginia State Police. “We are pleased to be able to start to give Ms. Johnson’s family some closure.”
Fortune is currently being held at the Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center. He is scheduled to appear in King and Queen Circuit Court on Oct. 23, 2024.
