Bond denied for sailor charged with killing man with a dumbbell A gavel cracks down. (Airman 1st Class Aspen Reid/U.S. Air Force)
A Virginia Beach judge denied bond Thursday for a sailor charged last week with killing a man with a dumbbell.
District Judge Daniel Lahne ordered that 41-year-old Jason Jablonski remain in the city jail without bond. Jablonski’s next court date is a preliminary hearing on May 12.
Jablonski is a gunner’s mate 1st class and assigned to Norfolk Naval Station, according to U.S. Navy records. He was arrested and charged March 11 with killing Herbert Bryant, 45, at a residence in the 1200 block of Edenham Court, near Indian River Park and the Chesapeake city line.
Also charged in the case is Heather Totty, 35, of Virginia Beach. Totty is accused of helping Jablonski move Bryant’s body afterward. She’s charged with being an accessory after the fact, and also was ordered on Thursday to remain in the city jail without bond.
Jablonski was on a “crack bender” and got into a fight with Bryant on the day of the incident, according to court documents. He hit Bryant in the face with a dumbbell and then pushed it down on his neck until he stopped moving, the document said. Jablonski is charged with second-degree murder.
Totty was present when the altercation happened and helped Jablonski drag Bryant’s body outside afterward, the court documents state. Jablonski fled to a hotel while Totty cleaned the residence and gathered Bryant’s things, which authorities later found in a dumpster.
Court documents didn’t explain the relationship between Jablonski, Totty and Bryan. A spokeswoman for the commonwealth’s attorney’s office declined to say how the three knew each other. Jablonski’s attorney, Eric Leckie, also declined to provide additional information about the case.
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