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.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) today announced it will host a free youth fishing derby at the Bowden Fish Hatchery on Saturday, June 13 as part of the state’s Free Fishing Days.
“Watching a child reel in their first fish is an unforgettable experience, and the Bowden Fishing Derby provides a dedicated space just for them to make those memories,” said WVDNR Director Brett McMillion.
The Bowden Fishing Derby is free to attend and intended for youth anglers ages 3 to 14. The event will run from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. To participate and be eligible to win prizes, children must be registered by an adult. On-site registration begins at 7:30 a.m., followed by hour-long fishing sessions grouped by grade level:
“While the adults will have to stick to cheering the kids on at the derby, the whole family can hit the water later and enjoy any public lake or stream to do some casting of their own without needing a license,” McMillion said.
West Virginia’s annual Free Fishing Days return this year on June 13-14. During this two-day event, anglers of all experience levels may fish in public lakes, streams and rivers around the Mountain State without first purchasing a fishing license. All fishing regulations, including daily creel and size limits, still apply.
To learn more about Free Fishing Days or to download and complete a derby registration form ahead of time, visit WVdnr.gov/free-fishing-days. Anglers 15 and older who enjoy Free Fishing Days and want to continue fishing after this weekend are encouraged to purchase a fishing license at WVfish.com.
Today on MetroNews This Morning:
–Parole denied again for a notorious Morgantown killer
–Two United Way groups in West Virginia team up ahead of the next natural disaster
–An acid mine treatment facility has cleaned up a Monongalia County stream.
–In Sports: the state baseball tournament is moving in Huntington and WVU now knows the schedule for the CWS in Omaha
Listen to “MetroNews This Morning 6-9-26” on Spreaker.
In a state court venue for a battle for control of The Greenbrier Hotel, lawyers for Senator Jim Justice and his family business continue to press for a preliminary injunction over allegations that debt on the historic resort was transferred improperly.
“Defendants have no interest in collecting on the Loans; they want to take possession of The Greenbrier,” wrote lawyers for the Justices.
The Justices are in a fight with White Sulphur Springs Holdings, an affiliate of Omni Hotel & Resorts, over control of The Greenbrier. The battle recently got the attention of The Wall Street Journal in a story headlined “Two Texas Billionaires, a U.S. Senator and the Battle for ‘America’s Resort.’”
A federal court case has been paused to see through a potential $500 million financing agreement that could pay off the debt.
But a separate state case remains active.
In that one, the owners of The Greenbrier have sued longtime lender Carter Bank & Trust and the owners of White Sulphur Springs Holdings, Texas billionaires Robert and Blake Rowling, on claims that they colluded and improperly used insider information to gain control of the Greenbrier Hotel debt.
“Plaintiffs are not challenging Carter’s general right to assign the Loans,” wrote lawyers for the Justices.
“Rather, Plaintiffs contend that this particular assignment was unlawful because it was facilitated by fraud, breaches of multiple contracts that prevented such an assignment, and the misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets, which the TRT Defendants obtained under false pretenses, used to facilitate their acquisition strategy, and then sought to leverage through creditor remedies to seize The Greenbrier.”
Lawyers for Carter Bank and White Sulphur Springs Holdings each have taken positions that the state case is without solid grounding. They maintain that the Justices lack standing to challenge the sale of the loans and have failed to demonstrate irreparable harm because their financial difficulties are entirely self-inflicted.
On Friday, lawyers for the Justices filed a reply and wrote, “Defendants’ opposition briefs are works of distraction, advancing a counterfactual narrative and mischaracterizing Plaintiffs’ requested relief.
“Conspicuously absent from those briefs, however, is any serious dispute that Defendants’ actions are inflicting serious irreparable harm on Plaintiffs and The Greenbrier.”
Lawyers for the Justices want to maintain the current operational status of The Greenbrier while the court considers the underlying legal claims. They argue that without an injunction, the holding company’s actions will cause irreparable harm to the resort’s reputation, vendor confidence and future business bookings:
“Regardless of what reputation The Greenbrier previously had (or why), Plaintiffs’ undisputed evidence directly links recent customer and vendor concerns about The Greenbrier to Defendants’ conduct — false assertions that The Greenbrier is in disrepair, freezing accounts, public declarations of default, and the threat of additional creditor remedies.”
The lawyers for the Justices maintain the injunction is necessary because “The public interest is disserved by allowing a party who obtained contractual rights through fraud, contractual breaches, and anticompetitive conduct to exercise those disputed rights before the Court has determined whether that party validly owns those rights.”
The state case was filed in Greenbrier County, home of the resort and Senator Justice.
Both the holding company and the bank cite improper venue, contending that mandatory forum selection clauses in documents signed by the Justices require these disputes to be heard in Virginia or New York rather than West Virginia.
The Justice family argues that the Circuit Court of Greenbrier County is a proper venue for the lawsuit and that objections are “meritless.”
The Justices contend that various overlapping and conflicting forum-selection clauses in the relevant loan and confidentiality agreements point to different jurisdictions. So the Justices argue that these conflicts preclude the enforcement of any single clause, making their chosen forum in West Virginia appropriate.
“On the merits, Defendants say surprisingly little about Plaintiffs’ core allegation that Defendants, through misappropriation of confidential information and violations of contractual standstill restrictions, orchestrated an unlawful sale of the Loans in an effort to seize The Greenbrier,” wrote lawyers for the Justices.
“Instead, Defendants rely on meritless jurisdictional, venue, standing, and collateral-attack arguments. None will succeed.”
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