Man convicted in Herndon-area murder

A Fairfax County jury convicted a man Wednesday of first-degree murder for the 2008 slaying of Herndon area resident Erika Yancey.

Yancey, 22, lived in the Camden-Dulles apartment complex with Marcus Williams, 27, Williams's girlfriend and Williams's two children. On Nov. 16, 2008, Yancey disappeared, and her body was found three days later in the back seat of her car, repeatedly stabbed and her throat slashed.

Williams and a friend, Michael Thomas, were indicted for murder in September 2009.

Prosecutors theorized that Williams was upset with Yancey because she had begun a romatic relationship with Williams's girlfriend, Ellen Phillips.

Defense lawyers, and Phillips, said Williams was not hugely upset with the relationship, and that he was innocent.

Williams did not testify in his own defense.

Prosecutors presented evidence of men's clothes with Yancey's blood on them and Williams' DNA.

The jury later sentenced him to 20 years in prison, which is the minimum sentence.

-- Tom Jackman