Roommate of murder suspects speaks out

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - A man who lived with murder suspects charged in the deaths of brothers Alphonso White and Michael Johnson talked exclusively with 10 On Your Side.

White and Johnson's bodies were found at Rally's fast food restaurant on Lynnhaven Parkway in the early morning hours of Tuesday morning.

Friday, Deandre Dunnaway and Cheari Edwards, White's co-workers at Rally's, were arrested on murder and robbery charges.

The man, who does not want to be identified, said Dunnaway and Edwards got home around 11:30 p.m. Monday night. Rally's closed for business around midnight and the two men's bodies were discovered approximately two hours later.

"They did not home home with lots of money," the roommate said. "It was pretty much normal as any other closing night. They came in, got something to eat, changed their clothes... that's it. They did not look rattled."

The roommate said neither Dunnaway nor Edwards left the home Tuesday. When word spread of the double homicide that day, the roommate said he woke Dunnaway up to tell him what happened to his co-workers.

"I told him they found two people dead at Rally's... He woke up, got out of bed, made a call and then jumped back into bed."

White's co-workers gathered at the restaurant Tuesday, and neither Dunnaway nor Edwards were in sight even though they lived less than two miles from the restaurant.

Dunnaway told his roommate how "messed up" it was that White was killed because he had an at-risk baby born prematurely.

"He acted like he had found out who it was and he went on to explain how messed up it was that [White] had his newborn just out of the hospital. I was just picturing in my head him telling me that and there was no sign of nothing from him, as if he had done nothing wrong."

He said the arrest Thursday morning went as calm as possible.

"They arrested them, took them into custody and that was it... no fireworks, no SWAT, no kicking down doors. It was calm and collected."

Both Dunnaway and Edwards are being held at the Virginia Beach Correctional Center without bond. They are scheduled to be back in court for their preliminary hearings on February 22.