Thomas O'Bryen (Norfolk Police Department).
A Virginia man will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars for a series of brutal attacks on women, prosecutors announced Friday.
In July, Thomas O'Bryen, 44, was convicted of one count each of murder in the second degree, abduction, forcible sodomy, attempted forcible sodomy, as well as two counts each of malicious wounding and using a firearm in the commission of felonies.
On Friday, 4th Judicial District Judge Devon R. Paige sentenced the defendant to 58 years in prison with another 70 years suspended if he meets certain conditions over the course of his incarceration.
The judge upbraided the defendant for targeting vulnerable women and using them like "disposable commodities" to "rage against" when they did not comply with his orders, according to a press release issued by the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.
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O'Bryen's pattern of predatory violence spanned several years – dating back to October 2021 when he repeatedly stabbed 51-year-old Angela Renee Joyner inside his SUV, jurors learned. In order to escape the rampage, Joyner jumped out of a window while the vehicle was moving and walked a few steps before collapsing in the intersection of Tidewater Drive and East Little Creek Road in Norfolk.
"Bystanders found Ms. Joyner bleeding profusely from her head and called Norfolk Police, and medics rushed Ms. Joyner to the hospital for surgery," the press release reads. "Ms. Joyner died the following day."
The medical examiner determined the woman's excessive stab wounds contributed to her blunt force trauma death. But, at the time, the connection to the defendant was nil and Joyner's case languished until O'Bryen was arrested in 2023, according to law enforcement.
That year, the defendant brutally attacked two women during the early morning hours. Those attacks were marked by the recurrent geography of pre-dawn parking lots.
Content warning: sexual assault.
At around 4 a.m. on March 26, 2003, O'Bryen picked up a woman who was walking through a parking lot and forced her to perform oral sex at gunpoint, prosecutors told jurors. At one point, the victim spat on her attacker and O'Bryen shot the woman through the head "before trying to force her to continue performing oral sex," according to law enforcement. Miraculously, the bullet entered and exited her skull, leaving only a flesh wound.
"Feeling herself bleeding and realizing that Mr. O'Bryen was driving faster, the victim opened the passenger door of the SUV and jumped out of the moving vehicle, breaking her ankle in the process," the press release goes on.
Investigators, operating with a description of the defendant's SUV, soon found the vehicle and had their suspicions but lacked enough evidence to make an arrest – until the man struck again.
Just over a month later, on April 27, 2023, O'Bryen, this time driving a van, again offered a ride to a woman walking through a parking lot at around 3:30 a.m. Again, O'Bryen aimed to have sex with the woman and again she declined, prosecutors proved during trial. But this time, she offered to perform oral sex in exchange for money.
"Mr. O'Bryen agreed, and the victim consensually performed oral sex on Mr. O'Bryen," the press release goes on. "While Mr. O'Bryen was driving, the victim could feel the vehicle turn in the wrong direction, and so she sat up, asked Mr. O'Bryen where he was going, and asked for her payment. Mr. O'Bryen told the victim to keep performing oral sex, pointed a gun at her head, and grabbed her hair to pull her head toward his lap."
For the second time in as many months, the victim jumped out of the moving vehicle and sustained serious injuries but survived.
Later, armed with a description of the van provided by the woman, police found both vehicles parked near each other at O'Bryen's address on Elk Avenue. The next morning, when the defendant got inside the van, officers swarmed the vehicle and he was arrested.
Prosecutors used extensive evidence to connect the man to the attacks, including ballistics, blood, and macabre, tell-tale keepsakes.
"Inside Mr. O'Bryen's house, they found Ms. Joyner's driver's license and a gun, and in the SUV, they found a single bullet casing which matched the gun inside the house," the press release goes on. "Homicide detectives traced Mr. O'Bryen's vehicle records and found an SUV he had sold shortly after he killed Ms. Joyner. The detectives located that vehicle in West Virginia, got permission from the new owners to search the vehicle, and found traces of blood between the center console and passenger seat."
In resulting interviews, O'Bryen admitted to almost everything. He said he picked up each woman and recalled each of them jumping from his moving vehicle. He denied, however, shooting the second victim and said he did not know Joyner had died.
"My heart breaks for the victims of Mr. O'Bryen's violent crimes, both the victims who survived and the victim who Mr. O'Bryen so callously murdered," said Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi said in a statement. "While Mr. O'Bryen's own abuse may explain how he has become the person he is today, and while nobody should suffer such abuse, it is no excuse for his terrible crimes, and the violence of Mr. O'Bryen's offenses and public safety require that he spend the rest of his life in prison. The judge's sentence may not have been life, but it is essentially the same thing, and we hope that this outcome brings closure and a measure of peace to the victims and their families."
