'So senseless:' Family grateful for arrests in son's Vance County murder

Nicolas Connor was looking for a good deal on an iPhone the December evening that he was robbed and killed, according to his family.

Connor's dad, Mike, said the 24-year-old was lured from his home in South Boston, Virginia, to Vance County by someone purportedly offering a bargain on the iPhone 11.

"I will always remember his big heart," Mike Connor said.

According to Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame, Nicolas, a recent college graduate, avid guitar player and fisherman, was targeted by four people now in custody for attempted robbery and murder.

Damarous Magbie, 23, Demetris Miller, 23, Latimor Drumgold, 23, and Neaisia Jones, 19, are charged with the crime.

Mike Connor told ABC11 exclusively that his son had previously driven from Virginia to purchase items from one of the suspects in the past.

"He didn't have his guard up. Felt like there was no issue," Connor said.

Authorities said that on the evening of Dec. 18, the suspects arranged to have Nicolas Connor meet them at a vacant mobile home in the 100 block of Mansfield Lane to purchase the device.

A caller reported a wrecked car near the home.

When investigators arrived, they found Connor in his vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds.

Mike Conner said he was tracking his son's location using his phone.

"He had texted me where he was going to; I looked at 'find his phone' -- I knew where he was supposed to be," Connor said. "And when I looked, I figured he was already on his way back. He was still sitting at that location. I looked back a few minutes and he was still sitting there. And then the 911 operator called."

The sheriff's office is not saying exactly how they tracked down the four suspects. The Connor family said they are grateful to the investigators for working diligently on the case.

The SBI, which assisted the sheriff's office, is still reviewing the suspects' and victim's phones for potential evidence.

The suspects -- who all live in Henderson, except for Jones (Warrenton) -- will appear in court Feb. 17.

"There is no justice," Connor said. "There is no way of punishing them enough -- especially when it was so senseless.

Connor said people should take his son's story as a cautionary tale.

"Never go alone. Always be in a public place," he suggested.

"Just unreal, he added. "You're not supposed to have to see that. Your son die. They're supposed to see you buried. Not the other way around."

The Vance County Sheriff's Office said it encourages people to buy and sell items outside their local law enforcement office.