Childhood friend recalls being stabbed in the back by man charged with murder after body found in backyard

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — The same man now accused of first-degree murder in Portsmouth was convicted more than 40 years ago of stabbing a childhood acquaintance, who said a light jail sentence at the time failed to hold that person accountable.

Gregory Coffey, 53, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Gordon Randolph Tillman Jr. in Portsmouth. According to authorities and court records, Tillman’s dismembered and burned body was found in a ditch behind Coffey’s home at 3404 Elliott Avenue following an incident on or about Aug. 30.

That murder charge comes 41 years after Coffey was convicted of stabbing a childhood acquaintance, then-14-year-old Lee Bennett, with a butcher knife in 1985, when Coffey was 12 years old.

Bennett recently retrieved court records from Portsmouth Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court documenting the felony stabbing, for which Coffey received one year of supervised juvenile probation. Bennett said it was a slap on the wrist.

On Sept. 11, 1985, Coffey attacked Bennett on Lanier Crescent following a verbal argument. Bennett, who was 14 at the time, recalled walking down the street when 12-year-old Coffey approached him from behind with a butcher knife. Bennett recounted the moment he was attacked while visiting the scene.

“I was walking down this sidewalk here (on Lanier Crescent) and he snuck in behind me, and stabbed me,” Bennett said. “I looked up and he was standing over me with a butcher knife.”

Bennett ran to nearby friends for help while Coffey stabbed his bicycle’s tires, seat and handlebars.

Coffey received one year of supervised juvenile probation for the felony stabbing, “and the one-year probationary sentence, I feel like if the city of Portsmouth had handled business back then that this might not have happened now,” Bennett said about the first-degree murder charge in connection to Tillman’s death.

Following the 1985 incident, police became involved and court documents listed the address of Coffey’s father as unknown. Bennett said Coffey’s mother, Debra Story, came to his family’s home to speak with his father in an effort to avoid further legal consequences.

“By that time, the police were involved, his mom showed up at my door and talked to my father, trying to make this all go away,” Bennett said.

Bennett added that neither Coffey nor his mother ever apologized for the attack.

“He was an angry man back then,” Bennett said.

Decades later, law enforcement attention returned to Coffey’s Elliott Avenue home during the investigation into Tillman’s death. Eight law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, executed a five-day search at the residence.

Over several months prior to the murder charge, the city of Portsmouth had issued multiple notices of violation regarding nuisance conditions on Coffey’s property. It appears that Coffey was selling items from his front yard as if it were an outside thrift store, one person said.

On April 16, Coffey allegedly brandished a firearm at a city subcontractor who arrived at the home to deliver a notice of violation to clean up the yard. The firearm brandishing case against Coffey was subsequently dismissed.

Portsmouth Police Chief Stephen Jenkins addressed the April 16 incident during a news conference after Coffey was arrested on the murder charge.

Jenkins detailed the interaction between Coffey and municipal workers.

“There was a particular incident that is documented where Mr. Coffey did pull a firearm on a contractor who was there to clean up his property,” Jenkins said.

Reflecting on the dismissed charge, Bennett noted that Coffey had repeatedly avoided severe legal outcomes.

“I don’t think it surprises me at all how he kept getting off with nobody doing anything about it,” Bennett said.

It would appear someone is doing something about it now.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WAVY. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WAVY staff before being published.