Erotic Offer Preceded Shooting

Court Records Reveal Night of Drinking, Exchange of Money

A couple promising on the Internet to provide an "erotic service" arrived at an Arlington County man's house about midnight Dec. 7, according to court records. Booze flowed. Money was exchanged. At some point, the woman hopped in the hot tub and passed out.

When she awoke about 4 a.m., she heard a man on the phone saying "I just shot a man," according to a police search warrant affidavit.

When authorities arrived, they found Matthew Hicks, a 32-year-old Loudoun County resident, dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Willie Donaldson, a 35-year-old Internet security consultant who rented the brick house on South Arlington Ridge Road, was arrested and charged with murder. It was Arlington's third homicide this year, police said.

In the affidavit, police say Donaldson "contacted the individuals via email and arranged to have them come to his residence to provide services." The three of them drank, the affidavit says. It was not clear whether any sexual act occurred, said Detective Crystal Nosal, a police spokeswoman.

When police arrived, they found a black semiautomatic handgun on a brick wall outside the home.

Donaldson told police that at some point Hicks threatened to kill him if he didn't go to an ATM and give him money, the affidavit says. Denman Rucker, Donaldson's attorney, said his client was acting in self-defense.

"It's our understanding that he [Hicks] was trying to get more money from Mr. Donaldson," he said.

Donaldson was treated for injuries at the Virginia Hospital Center. A mug shot released by police showed his face bruised and bloodied.

Hicks was a former Navy SEAL, according to a Navy spokesman. But he was stripped of the SEAL qualification, a highly unusual act, and was other than honorably discharged from the Navy before his enlistment was up.

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.