VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Hours after he was convicted of killing his girlfriend and father figure on Wednesday, Cola Beale expressed remorse for his crimes and said he regretted them an interview with News 3 reporter Jay Greene.
Beale's trial was quick, lasting less than three days before a verdict was handed down by the jury Wednesday afternoon.
"Hopefully they can recover from this and get well over time," Beale said in the interview.
Watch the jailhouse interview:
During the interview Wednesday, Beale said he "didn't sound very remorseful" in the 2022 interview he gave to News 3, where he admitted to the crimes.
"I wish their loved ones would heal, but I know right now they're all taking time to heal," he said. "Hopefully it's soon."
When asked directly whether he regretted his crimes, he answered "yes, sir."
Beale also said that he did not remember confessing to the crimes during his 2022 with News 3 because he was "blacked out".
"I didn't even know that I was saying all of that stuff," he said, adding that he saw his interview for the first time in court this week.
Watch sections from our interview in the player above.
2022 interview: 'When you feel dead, you don't care who dies'
Beale admitted to the crimes during a jailhouse interview with News 3 in 2022.
"I pulled her dog in the room and I was gonna set the dog on fire, and she told me, 'No, don’t do nothing to the dog. You can take me and do whatever you were going to do to the dog to me instead,' and so that's what I did," Beale said in his 2022 interview with News 3.
At the time, he told News 3 that he "snapped" and shot his girlfriend, Czavi'er Hill, 31, in the head because her parents "kept confronting him about his plans" with their daughter.
Hill's body was discovered two days later by police when her townhome went up in flames.
Beale told News 3 in 2022 that at the time he had "no remorse" for killing Hill. "When you snap, you don't think about remorse," he said.
"When you feel dead, you don't care who dies," Beale said in the video.
Twelve hours after Beale said he killed Hill, he headed to Clifton Baxter's home on Linda Court in Virginia Beach, where he said he killed the 73-year-old. Baxter was in a relationship with Beale’s mother and continued to have a relationship with him after they broke up.
Watch our 2022 interview with Beale below.
March 2024: Virginia Beach trial
During day one of the trial, prosecutors brought up their first witness, Detective Chris Jachimiak with the Virginia Beach Police Department.
Jachimiak interviewed Beale after he was arrested.
In a video shown during that interview, Beale admitted to shooting Hill and Clifton Baxter.
He told detectives he felt neither Hill's family nor his own had his back.
On day two, both sides rested their case.
The prosecution presented its evidence which was based around the investigators who responded to the murders in 2022.
The defense did not provide any evidence and told the court that Beale would not be testifying.
One of the Commonwealth's first witnesses on Tuesday was a firefighter who was called out to Hill's home after Beale allegedly shot her and set her home on fire.
Editor’s note. In previous coverage, News 3 has referred to Clifton Baxter as Beale’s “adoptive father.” Baxter was in a relationship with Beale’s mother and continued to have a relationship with him after they broke up, but did not legally adopt him.
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