The kids had plans with friends at Chris Greene Lake, so last August 19 their parents, Colin and Virginia Glasgow, packed them into the family’s blue Toyota van and headed out from their home in Crozet. The plan: drop the kids (a son and daughter) and Virginia at the lake while Colin, unemployed, would continue his job search. Sadly, what should have started out as an unremarkable Saturday ended up in trauma.
 Colin Glasgow, 44, who will serve 12 years for taking his family on a terror-filled ride, keeping them in the car for hours, then crashing the vehicle into a tree. Reportedly, his wife wanted a divorce. |
Colin Glasgow kept his family hostage in the vehicle while he took them on a wild and dangerous driving spree, eventually wrapping the van around a large tree in an Earlysville yard in what law enforcement authorities categorized as an attempted murder-suicide. With his family inside and injured, Glasgow ran away from the scene.
On Tuesday, April 17, after being held without bond in the regional jail, he was sentenced to serve 12 years for abduction, child endangerment and domestic assault. In January, he entered an Alford plea on these and other charges, meaning he acknowledged that there was enough evidence to convict him. When Glasgow, 44, gets out of jail, he will have three years of supervised probation. If he puts together 40 years of good behavior, including getting and keeping a full-time job, then he will be allowed to see Virginia and his children again.
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jon Zug, who tried the case in Albemarle Circuit Court, says that Virginia Glasgow believes her declared intention to divorce Colin prompted his reckless behavior. As for whether 40 years without contact between him and his family is an exceptionally harsh restriction, Zug is emphatic: “He tried to kill them, so no.”
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