Commonwealth v. Matthew Gene Hoaglund; Killing of Friend with Mallet Draws 17-Year Sentence

Virginia Beach, Va. – Colin D. Stolle, Commonwealth's Attorney for the city of Virginia Beach, announced that Matthew Gene Hoaglund, age 46, of the 200 block of View Avenue in Norfolk, Virginia, was sentenced today for Second Degree Murder. Circuit Court Judge Stephen C. Mahan sentenced Hoaglund to serve seventeen (17) years in prison.

Hoaglund pled guilty on September 13, 2021. Had this matter gone to trial, the Commonwealth's evidence would have proven that on the evening of February 10, 2021, a woman arrived at her home on Redkirk Lane in Virginia Beach and found her roommate, Daoud Bilal, unresponsive and bloodied. She called police, who responded and found Bilal with blunt force trauma to the head. They pronounced Bilal deceased. An autopsy by the Medical Examiner determined that Bilal's cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, with contributing acute fentanyl/despropionlyfentanyl, heroin, and ethanol use. The contributing factors made Bilal die faster from the blunt force trauma but did not cause him to die.

Detectives interviewed the victim's acquaintances. They learned that Bilal and Hoaglund were in a hotel room the night before and had a disagreement about a heroin purchase Hoaglund wanted to make from Bilal. Hoaglund had recently given fake money to Bilal in exchange for heroin, and Bilal would no longer sell to Hoaglund after that. Hoaglund believed he was being "ripped off" by Bilal. Later, in an interview with detectives, Hoaglund told several lies about what happened to Bilal before finally admitting that things got out of control and he struck Bilal.

Forensics personnel found blood stains in Hoaglund's car on his driver's seat, driver's floor mat, and passenger's door. Detectives learned that Hoaglund's wife was outside in the car during the murder. She later told police that she saw Hoaglund throw a hammer out of the passenger window of their car while they were on the on-ramp of I-64 West. The hammer was recovered and had blood stains on it, which forensic testing determined to be Bilal's blood. Hoaglund's wife also stated that he threw his bloodied sweatshirt into a dumpster in Norfolk. This sweatshirt was later recovered by police, along with video surveillance of Hoaglund discarding it.

The medical examiner observed a gaping laceration to the left side of Bilal's head, and a smaller abraded laceration to the back of the head. Underneath the laceration to the left side of the head were two overlapping oval-shaped fractures to the left side of the skull. A forensic anthropology consultation revealed that the first impact—towards the rear—occurred with less force than the second impact—towards the front. These impacts were consistent with having been caused with a blunt object such as the hammer that was recovered as evidence.

Hoaglund has prior convictions for Assault and Battery- Family Member, Assault, and Petit Larceny.

Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Tabitha B. Anderson and Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Brandon C. Emery prosecuted this case. Please contact Macie Allen if additional information is desired.