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Missing pregnant woman is found shot dead, Virginia cops say. Boyfriend is arrested

A man was arrested after his pregnant girlfriend was found fatally shot, Virginia cops say.
A man was arrested after his pregnant girlfriend was found fatally shot, Virginia cops say.

A pregnant woman was found dead in her home after she was reported missing, according to Virginia deputies. Her boyfriend has since been arrested in connection with her death.

The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office says Dustin Barret Owens, 38, is in custody after his girlfriend, 35-year-old Amber Dawn Compton, was found dead in her home Saturday, Oct. 22.

Dispatchers were notified of a missing woman, later identified as Compton, on Saturday, according to an Oct. 24 sheriff’s office news release. As deputies investigated, they found Compton in her home with multiple gunshot wounds.

On Sunday, Owens was arrested and charged with homicide. He is being held without bond at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority Haysi facility, deputies say.

Compton was about seven months pregnant at the time of her death, according to deputies.

“Please, please, please say a prayer for my family. You didn’t deserve this, Amber,” one of Compton’s family members shared on Facebook.

“The world is so cruel,” another family member wrote in a post.

The investigation is ongoing, and more criminal charges are expected.

Buchanan County is about 210 miles northwest of Greensboro, North Carolina.

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This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Missing pregnant woman is found shot dead, Virginia cops say. Boyfriend is arrested."

Moira Ritter
mcclatchy-newsroom
Moira Ritter covers real-time news for McClatchy. She is a graduate of Georgetown University where she studied government, journalism and German. Previously, she reported for CNN Business.
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