CHESAPEAKE, Va. - A woman was found dead inside a home on Willow Oak Drive Monday morning. The victim’s family told News 3 she owned the home.
A 911 call came in at 9:30 a.m. for a domestic dispute in the 600 block of Willow Oak Drive.
When police arrived at the scene, they said they saw that the door to the home was open and then found the body of the woman who had been who had been shot and killed inside the home.
That's when the Chesapeake S.W.A.T. moved in to clear the home but no one was inside.
Betty Reed lives across the street. She said she looked out her window to see police in front of the home with weapons out.
“She had her gun drawn and I was like, ‘Holy cow,’” Reed said.
Police have named 46-year-old Ben Matthew Wynkoop as a person of interest in this homicide investigation.
Detectives previously said he was at large and described him as "armed and extremely dangerous."
According to officials, Wynkoop was caught by deputies with the Currituck County Sheriff's Office before 5 p.m. on a traffic stop.
News 3 spoke with the woman’s family and close friends off camera. They were too emotional to do an interview, but said she was a 46-year-old mother of two from a previous marriage. She also had three stepchildren but no children with Wynkoop.
On Tuesday police identified the woman as Kathryn Kathleen Dean.
The family said Dean was a great person who was getting out of an abusive relationship with Wynkoop when it turned deadly.
They told News 3 she and Wynkoop were married for about three years but had recently separated.
They say Wynkoop was abusing Dean when she finally broke free, filing restraining orders and was in the process of filing for divorce.
Reed said police have been to the home at least three times in last year and a half.
“I’d seen the police over there a few times, but I’m really shocked something like that happened,” she said. “She appeared to be a really nice lady, pretty lady. I don’t know. It’s just sad that something like that happens.”
Reed said Dean lived in the home for several years and kept to herself. She said she just saw her over the weekend and the two would talk from time to time, but she never suspected she was an alleged victim of domestic violence.
“I’m just shocked and so saddened for her children,” said Reed. “I just feel so bad for her, and I feel bad she got into a relationship like that; I just don’t understand abuse of any kind.”
Around 10 a.m., the sheriff's office received information from the Chesapeake Police Department that Wynkoop was within their jurisdiction. They learned he reportedly left a home in Moyock, North Carolina, and was not willing to cooperate with law enforcement.
Hours later, around 4 p.m., the sheriff's office's patrol sergeant and S.W.A.T. team found Wynkoop's vehicle going into Currituck County. The S.W.A.T. team performed a vehicle takedown on his vehicle in the area of Poyners Road and took him into custody.
Wynkoop was taken to the sheriff's office's interview room and was then processed.
He has been charged with first-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
The Currituck County Sheriff's Office's Criminal Investigation Division is assisting Chesapeake Police in this investigation.
News 3 reached out to Wynkoop’s family, but they told us, “No comment.”
Wynkoop was extradited to Virginia, where he awaits trial in the Chesapeake City Jail.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP (1-888-562-5887).
