A Virginia mother of three was allegedly lured to her death by a man she was romantically involved with, who dangled a job offer that convinced her to uproot her life and move more than 100 miles to West Virginia.

Angel Whitaker, 37, left her Bristol, Va., home in January 2026 for a new job in Bluefield, W.Va., after former work associate Donald Pennington, 59, allegedly offered her an assistant manager position at an O’Reilly Auto Parts in Bluefield, according to a criminal complaint obtained by WVNSTV.

Whitaker, who allegedly met Pennington at a Bristol auto shop in 2018 and began a relationship with him shortly after, moved in with him after relocating to West Virginia.

However, by April, her family had lost all contact with her, and on May 4, her sister Angela reported her missing.

Investigators said the relationship had grown strained after Whitaker moved in with Pennington, and in the weeks before her disappearance, her sister told police Whitaker had moved into a Princeton hotel to distance herself from the situation.

Whitaker was last seen on April 17, 2026, when she allegedly showed up to work intoxicated — Pennington told police he drove her home, but when he returned from work later that day, she was gone.

More than a week after Whitaker was reported missing, Pennington’s ex-girlfriend met with investigators on May 12 and told them, “You’re not going to find her, he murdered her.”

She also told investigators the two had been constantly arguing in the weeks before Whitaker vanished.

Investigators said Pennington had previously called his ex-girlfriend and told her he left work on April 17 to break up an argument between Whitaker and a family member, and that Whitaker had made threatening claims against him, according to WVNSTV.

He allegedly met his ex-girlfriend at a mall that same day and told her Whitaker had threatened to kill him — and that’s when he “snapped,” the complaint states.

The ex-girlfriend told investigators Pennington picked Whitaker up by her throat and choked her until she stopped breathing, then allegedly showed her a photo of Whitaker’s body taken from the victim’s phone.

Investigators also alleged Pennington disposed of Whitaker’s phones by soaking them in bleach and destroying their SIM cards.

The ex-girlfriend told investigators she later met Pennington at a Lowe’s in Bluefield, Va., where he purchased multiple bags of concrete before the two drove to Bastian, Va., about 18 miles away, where he allegedly buried Whitaker’s body.

She led investigators to the location, where Virginia State Police cadaver dogs were deployed but failed to locate Whitaker’s remains. She also handed over her phone to investigators, admitting she had deleted messages from Pennington about the alleged murder, according to WVNSTV.

Pennington was arrested on May 13 and is being held at West Virginia Regional Jail & Correctional Facility Authority.

He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and concealment of a body.

Whitaker leaves behind three children — 18-year-old son Braiden, 17-year-old daughter Daizy and 12-year-old son Christopher — according to a GoFundMe set up by her family to help with funeral expenses.

A Boy Scout river trip turned into a rescue mission Saturday after fast-moving floodwaters trapped 28 scouts in West Virginia.

The scouts were traveling along the Cacapon River in Hampshire County on Saturday afternoon when fast-moving water intensified unexpectedly, forcing the troop to head toward the bank.

But the boys — from Fairfax, Virginia — soon found themselves trapped on the wrong side of the river.

Micah Campbell, who was with the scouts, told Fox News Digital the troop had planned a routine river trip before conditions quickly worsened following the storm.

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“We were doing a river trip and the current and the strength of the river turned out to be a little stronger than we thought,” Campbell said.

Campbell said the scouts initially moved toward land for safety before realizing they were stranded.

“When some of the boys went into the river, we decided to call it off and go on shore,” he said. “And now we were on the wrong side of the river, so we needed some help getting across.”

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Jeffrey West, whose father owns a cabin near where the scouts became stranded, said rescue crews were called to the scene.

Watercraft eventually arrived and transported the boys safely across the river.

Altogether, the scouts were stranded for roughly 45 minutes.

“It’s been a day,” West said with a laugh, adding that he had originally planned a “quiet weekend at the cabin.”

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West said the boys later gathered at the cabin, where they were given pizza and hot cocoa while waiting for transportation home.

He added that arrangements were being made to shuttle the scouts out of the area.