Arizona Man Arrested 1 Year After His Estranged Ex, Her 2 Sons Found Shot To Death In Their Home, Police Say

An Arizona man already in custody on a drug charge is now accused of the triple murder of his estranged wife and her two sons last summer, authorities said.

On July 1, 2021, officers in Tucson found Willona Ametrice White, 44, and her two sons, 18-year-old Talmadge Holmes Jr., and 14-year-old Jaiden White shot to death inside their home.

“The victims were executed,” Tucson Police Detective Pat Robinson said shortly after the killing, according to KOLD. “They were shot multiple times. Of course, there was a lot of blood. There was a lot of cartridge cases throughout the house. It was just a lot of violence.”

The day after the deadly shooting, White’s ex, 46-year-old John Edwards James, was arrested on a narcotics violation and taken into custody, the station reported.

Last week, detectives found probable cause to charge James with three counts of first-degree murder, KGUN reported.

“All came back to the same person,” Robinson said. “Every step we turned and came back to the same person and we were able to gather enough evidence to make the arrest.”

James was being held on a $1, 025,000 bond.

According to KGUN, James was out on bond in connection to a December 2019 domestic violence charge when he allegedly gunned down the three victims.

In that case, police charged him with multiple felonies, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, disorderly conduct domestic violence, kidnapping and possessing a deadly weapon by a prohibited possessor.