James Darren Manning, 36, was shot and killed on the evening of Wednesday, June 16, 2021, on Hamm Farm Road in Barboursville, Virginia. A U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan with the 173rd Airborne Brigade and a UPS driver in Charlottesville, Manning left behind his wife of 10 years, Jessica Ann Manning, and their three young children.

Deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office found Manning deceased from a gunshot wound after a call came in at about 7:00 p.m. The Virginia State Police assisted in the investigation. In the early morning of June 17, 2021, 27-year-old Brianna Cole Knicely of Gordonsville was stopped by the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office, agreed to return to Orange County for questioning, and was charged with second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and shooting into an occupied dwelling. She was held without bond at the Central Virginia Regional Jail.

The sheriff’s office did not immediately release motive or the nature of any relationship between Manning and Knicely. If anyone has information about Manning, his movements that evening, or the events on Hamm Farm Road, please come forward.