Donald Pennington is charged with second-degree murder after Angel Whitaker moved from Bristol to Bluefield.

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — A West Virginia man accused of offering a Virginia woman an assistant manager job before she moved to live with him is now charged in her killing after investigators found her remains in a wooded area across the state line.

Donald Ray Pennington, 59, faces charges of second-degree murder and concealment of a deceased human body in the death of Angel Whitaker, a mother of three from Bristol, Virginia. Police and court records described in regional reports say Whitaker moved to Bluefield after Pennington, who knew her from an auto parts store, offered her work. Pennington has pleaded not guilty, and the case remains in the early court stage.

Whitaker’s move began as a work opportunity, according to reports citing a criminal complaint. Family members told police she had been struggling financially before she relocated to Bluefield in January 2026 to live with Pennington, who was described as a manager at an O’Reilly Auto Parts store. The two had known each other for years through Whitaker’s time working at an auto parts store in Bristol. Relatives later said the job offer and the relationship helped explain why she left Virginia for West Virginia, about 100 miles away. In a fundraiser, her son Braiden Cross wrote that the family believed Pennington was “someone we thought we could trust.”

The promise of a new role soon became part of a missing person case. Whitaker’s family told police they normally heard from her often and became alarmed when contact stopped in mid-April. Her sister reported her missing on May 4 after relatives said they had not heard from her since April 14. Investigators later placed her last known movements in Bluefield and nearby areas, including the residence she shared with Pennington on Thorn Street. Reports citing court documents say detectives reviewed Facebook messages, surveillance video, witness accounts and cellphone tracking data as they tried to follow the path from Whitaker’s job move to the discovery of her body.

By April, investigators said, the relationship between Whitaker and Pennington had grown strained. A man who exchanged messages with Whitaker told police she described Pennington as jealous and controlling, according to reported court records. The same records say Whitaker wrote in messages that she needed to leave the home and feared the situation would become bad if she did not get away. Family members also told police that Whitaker had checked into a Quality Inn in early April because she was afraid to return to the residence. Pennington later told investigators that he last saw Whitaker on April 17 after she arrived at work intoxicated and he drove her home, then returned from work to find her gone.

The investigation shifted on May 12, when Pennington’s ex-girlfriend went to the Bluefield Police Department. She told investigators, “You’re not going to find her, he murdered her,” according to reports citing the complaint. The ex-girlfriend said Pennington had described an argument with Whitaker and claimed he “snapped.” She told police Pennington said he grabbed Whitaker by the throat and choked her until she stopped breathing. Investigators also reported that the ex-girlfriend said Pennington showed her a photograph on Whitaker’s phone and told her it was proof that he had killed her. Those statements are allegations and have not been tested at trial.

Authorities later searched an area near Bastian, Virginia, about 18 miles from Bluefield. Reports citing investigators say the ex-girlfriend described a trip to a Lowe’s store in Bluefield, Virginia, where she and Pennington bought bags of concrete before traveling toward Round Mountain Road. Police later said Life360 location data and store surveillance supported parts of that account. In the woods, deputies found concrete, plastic sheeting, rope, a blue quilt tied with red rope, pink lace fabric believed to be clothing, water jugs and a suspected burial site marked with rocks. Human remains were found about a quarter-mile into the wooded area, and investigators said animal activity may have moved the body from its original location.

Search warrants later brought investigators back to Pennington’s home and vehicle. Detectives removed flooring from his bedroom and carpeting from the trunk of his Acura sedan for forensic testing, according to reports. Police also recovered gallon water jugs at the home with lot numbers that allegedly matched containers found near the body disposal site. Authorities said they were conducting an autopsy to confirm more details about Whitaker’s death. The exact official cause and manner of death had not been publicly released in the reports reviewed for this story.

Whitaker’s children were left to plan a funeral while the criminal case began. Cross wrote in the fundraiser that his siblings were young and could not afford funeral expenses on their own. Reports say Whitaker also had a 17-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son. The family’s statement framed the case as a betrayal that began with trust in a job offer and ended with a missing person report, a search in two states and a homicide charge. Relatives have not publicly described all they knew about the move, and investigators have not said whether the job offer itself was real, formal or tied to any hiring paperwork.

The next public steps are expected to center on court scheduling, forensic results and any further filings that clarify what evidence prosecutors intend to use. Pennington was booked into jail on May 13 after arriving at the police department for questioning and requesting an attorney after being read his Miranda rights, according to reports. He is being held in West Virginia as the second-degree murder and concealment charges move forward.

Author note: Last updated June 18, 2026.