PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Teen dating violence is a topic many parents and kids don’t think about, let alone talk about.
The family of Asia Cowell is sharing her story in hopes to help other teens break the cycle.
Previously: Woman sentenced to life after 2020 killing of Norfolk teen Asia Cowell
“When I’m describing Asia, it’s so much that I feel — it’s hard because I can’t experience it. Any time the opportunity opens to share her, I say ‘yes,’” said her aunt and guardian Tatina Cowell. “Sometimes I hesitate because of my emotions, but I have to honor my niece ’cause … she left a legacy.”
Asia is remembered as a Granby High School student. At 17-years-old, she was an entrepreneur and hairstylist.
“She has such wisdom, kindness and compassion,” Tatina Cowell said. She was just loving. I looked at how she would treat her siblings. She was sweet, she was a protector.”
In 2020, Asia was preparing for her graduation — “she grew into her confidence, she grew into herself [and] she went through a lot even in her younger age, bullying and things like that,” Tatina Cowell said.
Tatina Cowell recalled an unhealthy relationship between Asia and her boyfriend, who was older than her.
“Our young people don’t know what healthy relationships are,” Tatina Cowell said. “There’s this idea that if somebody wants to constantly be under you, that this is a positive thing and is not obsessive and possessive. My niece was going through that,” said Tatina. “There was an unhealthy situation. This person did not let her go when she broke up with them. He wanted to reclaim things back because he wanted to still be close to her. Asia had moved on, but he didn’t want to let go.”
The aunt and niece relationship was often full of laughter and sometimes hard conversations.
“I would just talk to her about, ‘how do you see the future of your relationship?’ She would say, ‘Aunt Tina, I want to go to school out of state, I want to be an entrepreneur, I want to help the homeless,’” Tatina Cowell said. “She would say to me, ‘I don’t see myself with this person for a long time, but I don’t want to hurt his feelings.’ I would just tell her ‘I want what’s best for you. The longer you stay it’s going to be harder to break up.’
“But I would always encourage to [go] the right direction, to a healthy direction,” Tatina Cowell said. “I would see him coming to my house too much. I would say, ‘You need to message or call me. You can’t just come to my house like you used to come to see her when she was living elsewhere. This is my house.’ Asia respected that, he didn’t.”
Tatina Cowell said that, ultimately, Asia gathered the strength to end the relationship.
“Ultimately, Asia gathered the strength to end it, but when you have an unhealthy person, they don’t seem to know how to accept no,” Tatina Cowell said. “This person doesn’t have, ultimately, anything to do with Asia being gone. But because of his not moving forward, … he takes a role in it because he introduced those other three people into my niece’s life that did take her life.”
On May 5, 2020, Tatina Cowell recalled getting a panicked call from Asia shortly after the break-up.
“She’s crying. She’s coughing,” Tatina Cowell said. “I’m like, ‘Asia calm down.’ She said ‘he tried to rape me.’ And I’m like, what? She’s gasping. I’m like, OK, pause. Breathe. She said ‘… he tried to rape me.’ I said, ‘lock the door. I’m coming home.’ I head straight home, and I call the police. … They made an arrest two days later.”
Asia Cowell and Tatina Cowell pressed rape charges against her ex-boyfriend and were granted a protective order.
Court documents show that, months later on Sept. 6, 2020, Crystal Albritton messaged Asia on social media to set up a hair appointment at her apartment on West Kenmore Drive. Tatina Cowell dropped off the teen the following day.
“I never knew when she got on my car that day that I wouldn’t see her again,” Tatina Cowell said.
Inside of the Norfolk apartment, three people were waiting to attack Asia, Crystal and Devin Albritton and their 17-year-old goddaughter, Dazha Feaster, according to the probable cause statement.
It details that the three conspired to kill Asia to prevent her from testifying in the upcoming rape case involving Feaster’s brother, who was Asia’s ex-boyfriend.
For two weeks, Asia’s family and friends searched for the sweet and funny high school student.
“When we were looking for Asia, we knew it was around in the rape case,” Tatina Cowell said. “We knew it, but we were trying to believe for the best that Asia was going to come home.”
On Sept. 22, 2020 a tourist discovered Asia’s body in the woods along Warwick Blvd.
“When they [detectives] told me, we found the body. One of the factors I asked, ‘did she have on her virginity rocks flip flops?’ I’ve never seen anybody else with those flip flops on,” said Tatina. “For me that was an identifying factor. I said did y’all see those flip flops on? They said ‘Yes.’ I still needed a sense of closure. I knew I didn’t need to see her body, but they showed me pictures and I looked, they showed me a picture of her shoes. It was her virginity rocks flip flops.”
The Albrittons were convicted of murder earlier this year. Crystal Albritton was sentenced to life and three years. Her husband, who assisted with the abduction and disposed of the evidence, was sentenced to 39 years.
Feaster’s court hearing on Oct. 30 was rescheduled.
“Instead of you letting justice do what is supposed to do, you decided that my niece was a liar,” Tatina Cowell said. “Instead of letting her go to court, you decided you’re going to take her life so she doesn’t show up to court. And the reality is, if they had known her, they would have loved her. They took the treasure. They took the treasure.”
Asia was a loving sister and friend to many. She wrote poems just like her Aunt Tina. With Asia’s support in mind, Tatina Cowell published a book of poems to honor her life.
“I have days when I just cry, and I don’t know why I’m crying,” Tatina Cowell said. “It just happens as you know. Even when I’m smiling that we want I’m smiling. I hurt. I miss Asia so much!”
After Asia’s body was found, her rape case was dismissed in Norfolk.
Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi, answering questions from 10 On Your Side, said that “I mourn for Asia, the victim of a violent and unnecessary crime, and for her family.”
The ex-boyfriend was also cleared of any involvement in the murder of Asia.
After an exhaustive investigation, Norfolk and Newport News Police concluded that Asia’s ex-boyfriend had no knowledge of the events that led to Asia’s murder.
“Simply, he had no knowledge or involvement in what transpired,” according to statement of facts documents related to Devin Albritton’s case.
In 2021, her ex-boyfriend Desean Corum was arrested and was convicted of felony abduction and misdemeanor trespassing against another woman in Portsmouth.
Court records show that on Nov. 8, 2021, Corum visited the woman’s house to retrieve an item, when he forced his way into her apartment. The woman wrote that he pushed her on the bed before she was able to jump out of a bedroom window. Corum entered a plea agreement under terms to have no contact with the victim. The court suspended the 12-month sentence, if following the terms of ‘good behavior,’ for two years.
In 2023, Corum entered a plea for providing false statements on a history check while purchasing a gun at Bob’s Gun Shop on Granby Street. He was not convicted of the crime. The judge withheld a finding of guilt and continued the case for six months of good behavior. The charge was later dismissed.
10 On Your Side’s investigators asked the Portsmouth Commonwealths Attorney’s Office if the office was aware of the previous rape case in Norfolk.
The Office explained that only convictions are factored into the prosecution of cases and sentencing terms.
“I still deal with my own guilt,” Tatina Cowell said. “Because I just didn’t know. I would tell anyone in an unhealthy relationship to encourage them, the best that you can, to get out of it.”
For her family, the pain and hurt continue with no closure in sight.
“She accepted herself,” Tatina Cowell said. “She stepped into her true like who she was. You know, sometimes I like to think … maybe in small amount of time, my niece lived out part of her purpose, and maybe part of her purpose is in her afterlife and the legacy she left. Because I did see her grow. I saw her go from a lack of confidence to I’m not taking this crap, I’m not taking this foolishness. Ultimately, I feel like that played a role in her not being here. But she was confident enough to move away from a situation, a relationship that was not healthy and I feel like it is not talked enough about because this is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I think we focus on the adult population when it comes to that. But our young people are dealing with it too.
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