Homicide detective Chester Toney, 47, has worked for the Fairfax County Police Department for 23 years, 10 in his current position. Previously, he worked as an assistant manager at a pizza restaurant in the District. He grew up in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and moved to D.C. more than 25 years ago. He graduated from Alabama A&M University and is married with one son.
How did you enter law enforcement?
I always knew, even when I was in college, that I wanted to get into law enforcement. I wanted to do local police work before working for the federal government. I expected to stay only a few years [at Fairfax] and did apply with a couple federal agencies but kind of backed out because I liked the department.
What is the most interesting part of your job?
Any death in the county that may be questionable or may need to be looked into, we are tasked with that. I like the whole aspect of it. What keeps me motivated is that not only is it the best job in the police department, it’s the most important. You’re dealing with victims’ families and being able to help them find some degree of understanding on what happened. You help them try to move on.
What interesting cases have you worked on?
My partner and I worked on one case where a young Chinese kid killed his family in 1993. He left the [bodies of the] family in the house until 1999. In 1999, he dumped them in the Chesapeake Bay and in 2002 his ex-girlfriend reported it. Within 11 days we had enough information to lock him up. He was charged and got 33 years in prison for each of three counts of first-degree murder. It was a good case because we never had their bodies but we had enough information from witnesses involved.
— Maria Schmitt
