The circumstances of Dartellee Foster’s death at Riverside Regional Jail remain undetermined. His mother, Jovette “Cheyanne” Williams, says she called the jail 21 times during the 10 days her 28-year-old son was held there. On the morning of Oct. 25, she says, the jail called her back to tell her he was dead.
Foster was found unresponsive in his cell early that morning, according to a Riverside spokesperson cited by WRIC ABC 8News. Jail medical staff performed CPR, and he was pronounced dead a little over 20 minutes after he was discovered. Williams told the station she has received almost no information about what happened or why her son was jailed.
Williams told WRIC that Foster had no underlying health conditions but had long struggled with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and had received care for years from a psychiatrist at Virginia South Psychiatric and Family Services. She said he was experiencing a mental health crisis and was not given medication for his conditions while in custody. Riverside spokesperson Charlene Jones did not answer the station’s questions about Foster’s mental health treatment or medication.
What Williams Says She Tried to Do
Williams told WRIC she contacted the magistrate, medical staff and the jail’s mental health department, among others, as she sought help for her son. She said she first learned Foster was being held at Riverside after missing a call from the jail.
Williams told the station she is still waiting for an explanation, saying, “Each day I keep thinking he's gonna call me and say, ‘Hey, I'm at a hospital and I'm not dead.’” She said she wants all documentation about her son’s time at Riverside and is considering hiring an attorney.
Police records cited by WRIC say medical professionals obtained an emergency custody order for Foster, leading to his placement under a temporary detention order. Hopewell police last interacted with him on July 26, and online court records listed no charges against him, the station reported. Police said they did not know what led to his detention. Hopewell police had last arrested Foster on July 9, 2023, on charges of assault and battery.
Deaths at Riverside Draw State Oversight
Foster’s cause and manner of death are pending, with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner expected to make that determination. Riverside Regional Jail houses roughly 1,300 detainees from Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Hopewell, and the counties of Chesterfield, Charles City, Surry and Prince George, according to Richmond.com.
Four people died at Riverside Regional Jail in 2025, according to figures attributed to the Virginia State Board of Local and Regional Jails; the Richmond City Justice Center also recorded four deaths that year. In the preceding three years, 12 people died at Riverside: four in 2022, two in 2023 and six in 2024, according to a WRIC report on the facility’s death statistics. That report also said 18 deaths occurred at Riverside between 2020 and 2022.
Riverside Superintendent Jeffrey Dillman, appointed in October 2024, has said the jail houses a disproportionate number of people with untreated or under-treated medical, mental health and substance use disorders, according to the same WRIC report. Virginia law allows the State Board of Local and Regional Jails to review deaths at local, regional and community correctional facilities, including whether a staff act or omission contributed and whether the facility complied with board regulations.
Other families have also sought answers after deaths at Riverside. Neicole Sankey Lewis died in jail custody on Sept. 16, and a month later her daughter, Laura Sankey, told Richmond.com she still did not know what happened. In an earlier case, the disAbility Law Center of Virginia said an inmate identified as MD died at Riverside in March 2020 after what the organization described as serious deficiencies in care and crisis response. The State Board reached preliminary findings that the jail failed to comply with minimum correctional standards and was at fault for that death and two others.
What State Reviews Establish
A state review counted 12 deaths at Riverside from 2022 through 2024, the largest total among Virginia local jails in that period, according to WRIC ABC 8News. The same review counted seven deaths each at Henrico County Jail-West and Richmond City Justice Center. Those are raw totals, not rates adjusted for facility population. The Virginia Board of Local and Regional Jails says its reviews assess whether circumstances surrounding an inmate’s death violated minimum standards; that purpose does not establish a finding about Foster’s pending case. In a separate earlier matter, a state review said Riverside may have been responsible for three inmate deaths in 2019 and 2020, Richmond.com reported. Those earlier findings do not establish the circumstances of Foster’s death.
