Thomas John O’Bryen, 43, was sentenced on Friday to 58 years in prison for the 2021 murder of a woman and the sexually-charged assaults on two other victims in 2023. These crimes haunted the community until his eventual arrest.
A jury convicted O’Bryen of Norfolk of second-degree murder, abduction, forcible sodomy, attempted forcible sodomy, two counts of malicious wounding, and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of those felonies.
Judge Devon R. Paige handed down the sentence, noting that O’Bryen had targeted vulnerable women and treated them as “disposable commodities” to “rage against” when they did not comply.
The case remained unsolved for nearly two years until O’Bryen’s arrest in 2023 for the attacks on two other women.
October 16, 2021: O’Bryen fatally beat and stabbed Angela Renee Joyner, 51, inside his SUV. Ms. Joyner escaped the moving vehicle before collapsing. She died the following day from blunt force trauma to the head. Investigators later determined stab wounds to her hands prevented her from opening the SUV door. At the time, police had no leads connecting O’Bryen to the crime.
March 26, 2023: A second victim accepted a ride from O’Bryen near the Wards Corner area. When she refused his demand for oral sex, O’Bryen pulled a firearm and forced her. After she spat on him, O’Bryen shot her in the back of the head, causing a flesh wound. She jumped from the moving vehicle, breaking her ankle. Surveillance footage from the area eventually led police to identify O’Bryen’s SUV.
April 27, 2023: A third victim accepted a ride from O’Bryen in the same area. The encounter escalated after she declined intercourse. O’Bryen, who had a firearm, hit her head with the gun when she attempted to escape the moving van. She was also injured jumping from the vehicle.
Police linked the 2023 attacks and, based on surveillance footage and tips, located O’Bryen’s van and SUV outside his home. O’Bryen was arrested after being seen entering one of the vehicles.
Subsequent search warrants proved critical. Investigators found Ms. Joyner’s driver’s license and a gun inside O’Bryen’s house, along with a bullet casing in his SUV that matched the recovered firearm. Detectives also located an SUV O’Bryen sold shortly after the 2021 murder, finding traces of blood that further tied him to the killing.
After his arrest, O’Bryen confessed to having all three victims in his vehicle and to inflicting injuries, though he denied shooting the second victim. He pleaded not guilty and opted for a jury trial for the crimes against the three women. The jury ultimately convicted him on all major counts.
The Commonwealth’s Attorney argued for a life sentence. O’Bryen’s defense counsel presented his mental health and history of childhood sexual abuse as mitigating factors.
Judge Paige acknowledged O’Bryen’s personal history but stated it did not excuse the abuse of others, sentencing him to 58 years and suspending an additional 70 years.
“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. “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.”
O’Bryen was separately convicted and sentenced in February to three years for a March 2024 assault on a cellmate while awaiting trial.
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