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Update: Man arrested after woman killed near the Oceanfront

Posted at 6:27 AM, Aug 06, 2012
and last updated 2012-08-06 21:16:42-04

Virginia Beach police have arrested a man after they say he killed a 49-year-old woman early this morning near the Oceanfront.

Beach police arrested 46-year-old James Thomas Miller of the 900 block of Barberton Court.  

He has been charged with murder and is currently being held in the Virginia Beach Correctional Center without bond.

It happened around 4:30 a.m. Monday morning. Police received a call reporting that a woman was outside in the 900 block of Barberton Court, near 24th Street. That’s east of Birdneck Road.

Police responded, and found a woman's body on the sidewalk nearby. She was pronounced dead on scene by EMS officials. Police say the woman died as a result of stab wounds.

Detectives say the homicide was the result of a domestic situation between Miller and the  woman. Police say the two knew each other.

Friends say the two had been dating and lived together at the Barberton Apartments in Virginia Beach.

Investigators say they found the woman dying on the sidewalk just inches away from where they lived.

James Miller was arrested in the 300 block of 16th Street around 5:50 a.m. Monday morning just blocks away . He had been treated at a local hospital from bites received from the police K9.

The female victim has been identified as 49-year-old Irene Teague of the 900 block of Barberton Court.

The Medical Examiner’s Office in Norfolk will determine the cause of death, officials say.

Miller's friend, Shaun Boswell, says he had threatened to hurt her before, but Boswell always managed to talk him out of it. He adds, "He said, 'I'm going to kill her' and I thought he was doing that because he was upset and angry."

NewsChannel 3 found court documents that show abuse is not new between the couple. In a criminal complaint from October, the officer writes Miller hit Irene in the face and grabbed her left bicep, bruising it.

But friends were hopeful it wouldn't end like this.

Boswell adds, "I was asleep. I missed his call. I should have answered it because I could have calmed him down."