‘I just want him to pay for this’: Emma Layne’s friends react to arrest in her murder case

HALIFAX COUNTY, Va. (WSET) — One of Emma Compton Layne’s best friends is speaking out after the Halifax County Sheriff announced that Emma’s husband has been arrested in connection with her murder.

On Wednesday, Russell Layne was arrested and charged with Emma’s murder after she disappeared nearly seven and a half years ago.

As Emma Layne’s family and friends gathered around the table this Thanksgiving and shared what they were thankful for, they had one thing in common and wanted to add it to their list.

After seven and a half years of heartache, sadness and unanswered questions, Emma’s husband Russell Layne is now charged with her murder.

Emma’s best friend Mechelle Pollard said that when she found out about this, the first word that came to her mind was: Finally.

“I mean, it just felt like all the air had gone out of my body. I was relieved,” Pollard said. “I’m just so grateful that they took this big step to get her justice.”

Pollard and Emma were friends for more than 35 years. She says she misses Emma’s smile and caring nature the most.

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Not a day goes by when she doesn’t think about herself.

“Just to talk to her, there were so many days I wanted to do this and I couldn’t because of his actions. So I’m a little upset about it,” Pollard said.

Pollard says she always felt Emma’s husband had something to do with her murder.

“It was a long seven, almost seven and a half years of waiting and wondering what was going to happen and if something was going to happen, but I never doubted that he was responsible,” Pollard said.

Now that he’s been arrested, Pollard said they’re one step closer to justice after all these years.

In the end, Pollard hopes for one thing.

“That he needs to take responsibility for what he did,” Pollard said. “You just can’t take someone’s life, you have no right to do that, and I just want him to understand the magnitude of what he did to her, to her family, and I just want him to pay for it.”

Russell Layne is currently being held without bail at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail.