DALE CITY — Prince William police chief Barry Barnard is making a plea for anyone with information on the shooting deaths of two men to come forward.
The bodies of Jairo Mayorga, 39, and Milton Lopez, 40, of Woodbridge, were found behind the 7 Market convenience store on Featherstone Road in Woodbridge on the morning of June 22.
Police believe they were shot and killed sometime the day before. Police have no new leads in the case.
“I went out there to the scene on the day it happened and we had substantial staff out there both from an investigative standpoint and a forensic standpoint,” Barnard told Potomac Local. “We’ve put out fliers. We’ve done a lot of social media, but we need the community’s help, [for them] to contact us and share information with us.”
He talked to us on Thursday, July 11 at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School in Dale City, during one of his regular “Conversations with the Chief” community meetings. It was his first since the double homicide.
The meeting drew three attendees. Two of the three people sitting the audience, however, were all too familiar with the term cold case.
No one asked about shooting victims or about the ongoing investigation into their deaths.
“We’re working hard. We’re going to continue to work hard to bring the people to justice, or person who committed these crimes. And we’re not going to stop until we do that,” Barnard added during his interview with Potomac Local.
Also in the room was Donna and Brian Donahue, the parents of Shane Donahue, 23, who went missing from his home on Aden Road in Nokesville on March 22, 2010.
They’ve spent the past nine years trying to find their missing son by hounding police detectives, hiring private investigators, speaking with reporters, and erecting a sign in front of their home that marks the days since Donahue went missing — now at more than 3,400.
Police have no new leads in the investigation, which is classified as a missing person case.
Adding insult to injury, the Donahue’s just buried their youngest, Shyanne Rose Donahue, 28, who died of a drug overdose on June 13. She was buried at the cemetery at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on June 25.
Shyanne held a degree in chemistry from VCU and created the Shane Donahue Foundation, which worked to provide substance abuse counseling.
During the meeting, the Donahues accused Barnard of not doing enough to find her son and ignoring requests to meet with the family to discuss new information obtained by a private investigator.
Barnard handed the grieving mother his card.
“I’m sorry for your loss. I’d be happy to meet with you anytime,” he said.
