A Virginia Beach man who police said caused a car crash in Maryland that killed his youngest child and injured his other two kids after he abducted them has been released from a hospital and is in jail.
Dana Plummer, 36, is being held by the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections, according to Andrew Cephas, a spokesman for the department. He was booked Friday and is being held without bond, Cephas said.
Plummer appeared in court Monday for a bail review hearing, and a judge ordered that he remain jailed without bond pending extradition, according to Elena Russo, a spokeswoman for Maryland State Police. Plummer voluntarily waived extradition to Virginia, Russo said. Online case information shows that he has another court date on Sept. 18 in Maryland.
It wasn’t known Monday morning if Plummer’s two sons remained hospitalized. The boys, ages 7 and 5, were taken to a Washington children’s hospital after Thursday’s crash off Interstate 495 in Prince George’s County. The boys’ 16-month-old sister, Za’riyah Plummer, was taken to the same hospital but died from her injuries shortly after arriving.
The status of Dana Plummer’s ex-wife and 12-year-old stepdaughter also wasn’t known Monday. Both were stabbed Wednesday night, and Plummer is charged with attacking them before fleeing with his three biological children.
A public information officer for Sentara Health said Monday she was unable to provide patient information for Plummer’s ex-wife. A spokesperson for Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters said she didn’t have any information about the girl, and a spokesperson for Virginia Beach police said he didn’t know what the status was for either stabbing victim.
The series of events that led to the toddler’s death — and the injuries of her remaining family members — began Wednesday night, according to Virginia Beach police.
Officers responding to a call for a stabbing at Plummer’s ex-wife’s home in Virginia Beach found the 37-year-old woman with multiple wounds. Her daughter was discovered on a bed upstairs with “severe” stab wounds, police said.
A statewide Amber Alert was issued hours later for the three children that police said Plummer fled with. Virginia State Police located them Thursday morning after a citizen reported seeing a Honda SUV that matched the Amber Alert description on a highway in Northern Virginia. Police attempted to pull Plummer over, and continued to pursue him after he drove into Maryland and crashed his SUV into two other vehicles.
Plummer has been charged in Virginia with two counts of aggravated malicious wounding, three counts of parental abduction, and domestic assault. The only charge he faces in Maryland at this time is being a fugitive from justice in Virginia.
Plummer had been a logistics specialist, first class with the Navy up until Aug. 2, when he separated from the service. A Navy spokeswoman declined to say whether he had left voluntarily or involuntarily.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
