Earnest admitted owning gun like that used to kill his wife

CHESAPEAKE

Bedford County investigators were in Chesapeake on Thursday to search a trailer believed to be owned by Wesley Earnest, an assistant principal at Great Bridge High School, who has been charged with murder in the death of his estranged wife.

Investigators were searching Thursday for .357-caliber bullets, condoms and electronic storage media at a campground in the Deep Creek section of Chesapeake. They found a spiral notebook, according to the search warrant.

Investigators believe Jocelyn Earnest, 38, was shot with a .357-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver, which was found at her home in Forest. Jocelyn Earnest was found dead Dec. 20. Also recovered from her home were condoms and computer-generated paperwork determined not to belong to her, according to the warrant.

Those items were sent to the Western Virginia Laboratory for examination. According to the warrant, forensic evidence obtained positively identified Wesley Earnest.

Earnest, 37, told Bedford County investigator Mike Mayhew that he had purchased a similar handgun but no longer owned it, the warrant states.

Earnest signed a rental agreement for the campsite on Dec. 26, 2007, under the name Wesley Earnest Wimmer.

The 27-foot Terry camping trailer is still in the campsite on South George Washington Highway.