Family learns details of loved one’s murder at Greensville Correctional after finding article online, VADOC keeping them in the dark
VENN
GREENSVILLE COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- Forty-two-year-old Princeo Brooks was killed by a cellmate at Greensville Correctional Center, but the family didn’t learn details of his death until they stumbled across an article about it. They're now grasping for answers after their loved one was murdered on Nov. 11.
Brooks' oldest sister, Nadia Ross, said the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) has provided no answers about her brother’s murder behind bars.
Princeo Brooks with family.
So why did the VADOC send a detailed press release to newsrooms across the state? The family is wrestling with this question.
“We had a big sister, little brother type of relationship," Ross said. "Princeo’s just very energetic, always smiling, always on the move.”
He was a father, brother and son.
Brooks’ family lives in Florida, but he moved to Virginia with the mother of his now nine-year-old son.
“His son is his twin," Ross said. "He is like Princeo all over again...He loved his family. Like, family meant a lot to him.”
Princeo Brooks and his son.
It was early on Tuesday, Nov. 11, when Greensville called Brooks’ mother Tina to share he passed, but wouldn’t say anything else besides they were investigating.
“She begged them to tell her something ‘cause the information -- they didn’t give us anything," Ross said. "We didn’t know how he died, was he sick, was he injured? We had no idea.”
At 9:31 a.m. on the morning he died, 8News received a press release from the VADOC, detailing a “apparent attack.”
It said just after 3 a.m., “One inmate was found on top of their cell partner, who was unresponsive.”
“We are wondering how our mother can beg and plead and cry on the phone for something -- she literally said just tell me something. We’re trying to figure out how a reporter was given more information than they even offered the family.”
Princeo Brooks with his mother, Tina.
Ross told 8News that it wasn’t until the mother of Princeo’s son found an article about it that they learned what happened, and have still not gotten anything confirmed from the prison.
“It’s like they are trying to cover their tracks," she said.
8News pressed the VADOC on why they sent out a press release before telling the family. They said they would not be commenting.
Ross said their family is now trying to figure out how to get Brooks' body to Florida, relying on GoFundMe donations.
