Nye’tazia Hicks was a 17-year-old girl from Portsmouth, Virginia, and the loving mother of a six-month-old baby boy, Bobby Jr. Her mother, Victoria, said her daughter’s smile could brighten up the world. In the summer of 2019, Nye’tazia’s life was cut short in a devastating and preventable series of events. On the night of July 27, her body was discovered along a cart path in the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. She had been shot in her upper body.
The discovery was puzzling for investigators, as neighbors near the cemetery reported seeing her body but had not heard any gunshots. Police quickly determined that Nye’tazia had been killed at another location and her body had been moved. The investigation led them to a home in the Charlestowne Apartments on Darren Circle, less than three miles away, where a grim story began to emerge.
On the night she died, Nye’tazia had gone to the residence of Simone Latrea Worrell, then 26, to babysit Worrell's children.
Several other teens were also at the home, including a 14-year-old boy named Domonique White. According to testimony, White found an unsecured gun in a hall closet and began playing with it. As he was leaving, Nye’tazia tried to take the gun from him. During a struggle over the weapon, it discharged, and a bullet struck Nye’tazia in the chest.
What happened next sealed her fate. White testified that he tried to apply pressure to the wound and call 911 for help. However, Worrell took the phone from him and stopped the call, stating that she was a felon. In her final moments, Nye’tazia was reportedly calling out for her baby. The bullet had pierced her lungs and smaller blood vessels, an injury that medical experts later said could have been survivable with immediate medical attention. After being prevented from getting help, White fled the residence. Worrell then transported Nye’tazia’s body to the cemetery and abandoned it.
The investigation led to the arrests of both Worrell and the 14-year-old shooter. In February 2026, after a two-day trial where Domonique White testified against her, a Portsmouth jury deliberated for four hours before finding Simone Worrell guilty of felony murder, felony child abuse and neglect, and concealment of a dead body. The prosecution successfully argued that Worrell’s criminal act of preventing the 911 call directly led to Nye’tazia’s death from preventable blood loss.
As of February 2026, Worrell had been convicted and was awaiting sentencing, which was scheduled for May.
