A mother of three was allegedly lured to her death by a man who convinced her to relocate by offering her a job more than 100 miles from her home.
Relocation and Relationship
Angel Whitaker, 37, left her home in Bristol, Virginia, in January this year for a new job in Bluefield, West Virginia, some 100 miles away. Her ex-colleague Donald Pennington, 59, allegedly offered her an assistant manager role at a car parts company. Angel had previously met Pennington at an auto shop in Bristol in 2018 and began a relationship with him, eventually moving in with him after relocating to West Virginia.
Disappearance and Investigation
Angel's family lost contact with her in April, and her sister Angela reported her missing on May 4. Investigators allege the relationship between Angel and Pennington had broken down after she moved in with him. Angela told police her sister had moved into a hotel in Princeton a few weeks before she vanished to put distance between herself and Pennington amid strains they were facing.
Angel was last seen on April 17 after she reportedly showed up to work while intoxicated. Pennington allegedly told police he drove her home but that she was gone when he returned from work later that day.
Witness Account and Arrest
More than a week after Angel was reported missing, Pennington's former partner spoke with police and said: "You're not going to find her, he murdered her." She told police the two had argued constantly in the weeks before she vanished. Investigators claimed Pennington had called his ex to tell her he left work on April 17 to break up an argument between Angel and a family member. He later claimed Angel had made threats to kill him.
Pennington then allegedly met his ex at a shopping centre that day and claimed Angel threatened to kill him and that was when he "snapped." His ex-partner claimed Pennington picked Angel up by her throat and choked her until she stopped breathing and allegedly showed the ex a photo of Angel's body taken with the victim's phone.
Investigators alleged Pennington disposed of Angel's phones by soaking them in bleach and destroying their sim cards. The ex-girlfriend told police she later met Pennington at a Lowe's in Bluefield where he bought multiple bags of concrete before the two drove around 18 miles to Bastian, where he allegedly buried Angel.
She took investigators to the area, where Virginia State Police cadaver dogs were sent out to search, but ultimately failed to find Angel's remains. The ex also handed over her phone to investigators, admitting she had deleted messages from Pennington about the alleged murder.
Pennington was arrested on May 13 and is now being held at West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority. He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and concealment of a body. Angel leaves behind her children Braiden, 18, Daizy, 17 and Christopher, 12.
Braiden has set up a GoFundMe to help the family cover the cost of his mum's funeral. In a heartbreaking post he wrote: "Our mother, Angel Whitaker, had been missing for a month until we recently received heartbreaking news about her case... We are devastated and struggling to process this loss. My siblings and I are all very young and we simply cannot afford the funeral expenses on our own. We are setting up this GoFundMe to help with funeral arrangements and to give our mother the proper goodbye she deserves, surrounded by her loved ones."
