Bloxom man pleads guilty to second-degree murder

Pictured: Edwin Colon-Matias

By Linda Cicoira

A Bloxom man pleaded guilty Thursday in Accomack Circuit Court to second-degree murder in the 2020 stabbing death of 29-year-old Deandre “Dre” Arness Abbott, a Parksley father of seven.

The defendant, 37-year-old Edwin Colon-Matias, admitted the crime in a deal with prosecutor Spencer Morgan that limited his active prison term to 10 years.

An attendance report was ordered. Sentencing was scheduled for January 30. The crime is punishable by a maximum of 40 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Colon-Matias, who has lived on the East Coast for about a decade, needed a Spanish interpreter at a previous bond hearing. He told the judge Thursday that he can now understand English better and doesn't need it. He does not read or write in English.

Morgan said Colon-Matias had a previous conviction for burglary and had to provide his DNA, which was found to be a match to a cigarette or cigar butt, two knives and a straw found at the crime scene. He could not be eliminated even based on material found under one of the victim's fingernails.

A witness told authorities that a fight ensued and that she put her arms around Abbott to pull him away. Her hand was slashed. She identified the attacker as a Latino man.

Abbott was stabbed several times, the final blow hitting his heart. He tried to drive away but didn't get far and died. His body was found in a car on Bear Town Road in Mappsville on September 12, 2020. Colon-Matias was arrested in February 2024.

Both men were poultry workers but did not work at the same plant.