The abduction of three young children from their Virginia Beach home Wednesday night ended Thursday morning in a multi-vehicle crash in Maryland that resulted in the death of the youngest child and the arrest of the man police say kidnapped them during a domestic dispute.
Za’riyah Plummer, 16 months, was killed in the accident off Interstate 495. The girl was flown to a children’s hospital, a spokesman for Maryland State Police said during a news conference Thursday.
The other two children – Zayin Plummer, 7, and Zayir Plummer, 5 – were taken by ambulance to the same children’s hospital. Both were in stable condition, Maryland state police said.
The driver, identified as 36-year-old Dana Plummer, also was hospitalized.
Dana Plummer is the father of all three children, Virginia Beach police said, and shared custody of them with his ex-wife.
The roughly 12-hour ordeal began about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday with the stabbing of a woman and her 12-year-old daughter in their home. The woman is Plummer’s ex-wife and the girl is his stepdaughter, police said.
When officers arrived at their house in the 900 block of Jay Are Court, near Virginia Wesleyan University, the woman came to the door “visibly suffering from stab wounds,” according to a search warrant affidavit filed late Wednesday night. Upstairs, they found the girl on a bed with “severe” stab wounds, the affidavit said.
Both were taken to a hospital and were reported to be in stable condition Thursday, according to a release from Virginia Beach police.
A statewide Amber Alert was issued about 2 a.m. Thursday, naming Dana Plummer as the suspect and providing pictures and descriptions of him and the three children. The alert said the children were believed to be in “extreme danger” and that Plummer was driving a black 2024 Honda Passport SUV with temporary tags.
About 8:45 a.m. Thursday, a citizen recognized the vehicle and tag number from the Amber Alert description and contacted local law enforcement, the Virginia Beach police news release said.
Virginia State Police attempted to pull Plummer over on northbound I-95 in Fairfax County, but he refused to stop, the release said. Plummer continued driving onto north I-495 in Maryland, where he lost control, crashed into two other vehicles, and overturned his SUV. The drivers of the other two vehicles were not injured, Maryland State Police said.
Plummer has been charged in Virginia with two counts of aggravated malicious wounding, three counts of parental abduction, four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and domestic assault. It was not known Thursday if charges had been filed in Maryland.
According to uncontested divorce papers Plummer’s ex-wife filed in July 2022, she and Plummer were members of the military and married in July 2018. The filing said they had two children together: Zayin, who was born in February 2017, before their marriage; and Zayir, born a couple of months after they married. Za’riyah had not yet been born when the papers were filed.
The couple had been separated since May 2021, the filings said. The agreement stated that no alimony would be paid and that the wife would get their home on Campus Drive. The couple also agreed to share custody of the children, with the boys spending alternating weeks with each parent.
Plummer’s ex-wife, however, didn’t stay at the Campus Drive home. She moved to a similar townhouse just around the corner on Jay Are Court about six or seven months ago, according to one of her neighbors. Anthony Cassanello and another neighbor, Laura Herrera, described the woman as “lovely” and “sweet,” and a good mother.
Both neighbors also saw Dana Plummer at the house. While Herrera remembered him as being loving with his children, Cassanello said he sometimes “caused problems” by doing things like banging on the door and blaring his car horn.
Both neighbors said the children were frequently seen laughing and playing outside. They would often ride their bikes on the cul-de-sac out front, and played in an inflatable pool in their front yard.
“My heart breaks for the family,” Herrera said.
Plummer got on Virginia Beach police’s radar earlier this year, when he was in a restaurant on Virginia Beach Boulevard with two of his children and “going through a crisis,” according to a petition for an emergency substantial risk order filed in March by the department.
Plummer told officers he had a shotgun in his pants because he believed he was in danger, the document said. He also told them his phone and computer had been hacked, and someone had been living in his attic and following him.
Plummer had previously called police to his home about noises he said he heard in his attic, the petition said. An officer who responded wrote he believed Plummer was having a mental health emergency. Officers retrieved two rifles and a pistol from Plummer’s vehicle. They also contacted his Naval command staff, and he was taken to the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth for treatment, the petition said.
A judge granted the request for the risk order a few weeks later, which prevented Plummer from possessing or buying firearms while the order was in place. Plummer already had voluntarily turned in multiple firearms — including two rifles, a shotgun and a handgun.
The risk order was set to remain in place until October.
Eliza Noe, eliza.noe@virginiamedia.com
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
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